The Tale of Mason Schneider
by WoDfan67
Summary: Mason Schneider is just a normal high school boy in New York. But what happens...when he's thrown into a world of magic and war?
1. Chapter 1 - Mystery Play

Hello, my name is Mason Schneider, and I am one lucky ass motherfucker.

Well, no, a story can't just stay at that, right? No…there has to be conflict! Drama! Suspense! The whole world has to come to an area of juicy, exciting conflict where there are questions answered, revelations unveiled – will the hero finally get the girl? Will the hero's best friend succumb to the forces of evil?

To be honest, I really, really hate reality TV shows that stop right before the conclusion. No, seriously. Like, can you not? It's not like I'm going to think about it for the rest of the week or something, and be disappointed by the conclusion since it'll probably be much simpler than my over-thought conclusion.

Oh, right. My story.

Alright, well…I'm a guy from Boston, but I moved around a lot with my parents. And before you ask, no, my father wasn't military. In my life, I had moved from Boston where I was born, to Seattle where I lived until I was five, to New York – the land of opportunity, as they call it. I don't particularly hate it here…I mean, Seattle isn't necessarily the quietest place either. It's just that it's very cold…especially in October.

You see, in New York, it tends to snow in the fall. You might be thinking, "What, Mason? Noooo, that's impossible!" But I am not kidding when I say that New York doesn't give a shit about the four seasons. No, really, it DOESN'T give a shit about the four seasons. How I know that is going to be explained later, because from that point, things get pretty weird.

But let's start at the beginning.

* * *

The school bus bumped across the cobblestone road that lead the school I went to. The vibrations woke me up and my eyes squinted as the golden rays of the newly risen sun shot into my eyes. The sound of the kids in the seats behind me and the seats in front of me gossiping and talking was the thing that took me out of my stupor.

The bus driver parked by the front and was pretty early. I was kind of thankful for that, seeing as how I don't eat breakfast at home unless it was a weekend. It was usually because of the short amount of time I have to get up in the morning. You see, for some reason, the bus driver tells us to get there super early, and she gets to the bus stop at the same amount of time, but we always end up coming early. A lot of the people that ride the bus with me questioned her about it, but she says…what is it? "Yo' ass is actin' too grown, now sit yo ass down before I write a referral"? Yeah…that's about it.

The doors to the bus opened, and all the students inside – including me – rushed out with a total lack of order. This is how it usually went; never thought people would be so eager to go to school. I got out near the end of the line, that way there'd be no rush or I wouldn't get caught up in case some idiot forgot to tie his shoes and tripped. Yes, that legitimately happens – it happened last year, in fact. I never facepalmed so hard in my life.

I silently walked the cobblestone road to my school's front doors. As I walked through, I was greeted with the silence of a mostly empty school. Students that walked and lived close to the school tiredly leaned against the walls, speaking to others if their friend was there or if they simply wanted to meet new people. Being tired myself, I sluggishly made my way through the security at the front door. They checked my backpack, made me go through a metal detector, and finally, asked if I had a baby mama and if she was dating someone else (seriously, I'm not kidding). I answered "no", of course. Nobody would want to be my baby mama if I put a gun to their head and asked, "Is you is, or is you ain't my lady?"

First thing was first. When I got past security, I went straight to the bathroom. It's not that I had to go to the bathroom and all, but it was because I was a little superstitious. If you ask me, it's good to be a little superstitious. After all, nobody wants to have a bad day, right?

I splashed water into my face twice as my routine always was. I looked into my blue eyes in the dirty bathroom mirror. My curly, dirty blonde hair was short, hanging just above my eyebrows. My black-framed glasses hid the radiance of my blue eyes, making them seem dull. I had the same face as when I was a little kid – triangular nose, proportionate lips and dimples on both of my cheeks when I smiled.

As far as my appearance went, I think I looked average. I definitely wasn't Quasimodo or anything. But when I see other guys – tall and muscular, it sort of discourages me. Courage wasn't my thing either…I was a pretty shy guy. Maybe that was the reason not many people spoke to me. Either way, I quit trying to date anyone until college, so high school romance wasn't any of my concern.

After I dried off my face, my friend Tyler was nice enough to sneak up behind me – as I was drying my face – and give me a creepy smile once I dropped the paper towel. I jumped, turning straight around but laughing once I realized it was him. That was Tyler for ya.

"Tyler, what the hell?" I laughed, giving him the complicated handshake we came up with. It involved shaking each other's hands, switching to the other hand, and then doing both. After that, we'd high five up high, then down low, followed by hooking our pointer, pinky, and middle fingers together and shaking again.

"What? They say assrape is easier in the morning." Tyler said. I knew he was joking, of course, that was Tyler's sense of humor.

I chuckled. "Might be true. When'd you get here?"

"Few minutes ago. Want to get breakfast – assuming you hadn't eaten at home?"

"Yeah, okay. Breakfast…let's get breakfast."

Call me crazy, but…I really liked the cafeteria breakfast. Now, mind you, it was nothing like the quasi-sentient slop we got for lunch. No, the breakfast was pretty legit. We were served things like pancakes, cereal, or waffles. It made me wonder if the reason for the horrible lunch was the teachers not giving a fuck about what they serve at that point, so they end up giving us what seems to be 4th grade lab experiments with a little salt on it. Whatever image you currently have in your head is probably accurate as to the crap we get on daily.

Tyler and I sat at our usual table, which was by the large, wooden gate that separated the cafeteria from the main hall. As usual, Tyler and I spoke about things going on outside of school. As much of a joking type of guy Tyler was, he had pretty solid ideas for the future.

"So, what do you want to be when you get outta here?" I asked, taking a sip of the orange juice on my tray. Cardboard flavor…my favorite.

"Well," Tyler began, "I want to be an engineer…but first I have to find my mother a guy to take care of her so I can get out and live my life."

I nodded. "What's up with your mother?"

Tyler's face darkened a little. "She…has a few issues. I'll leave it at that. I don't want CPS on my ass or anything."

I understood what he meant, somewhat. I knew that organization like CPS could end up doing more harm than good in a situation. What if you don't want to be apart from your mother? Tyler's story made me think a little.

"So, those murders that have been going on…heard about them?" Tyler asked, his voice snapping me out of thought.

"Huh? Murders…? Oh! No…I hadn't. What's up with them?"

"Well…" Tyler leaned in, ominously as if what he was saying was going to be a ground-breaking secret. "You know the abandoned neighborhood? What was it called…Westhaven street? Well, the police have apparently been investigating weird things happening there."

"Weird things?" I arched an eyebrow. "What kind of weird things?"

"The real creepypasta type stuff. Y'know, bodies being found, mangled beyond recognition; people just…disappearing after they go into there. It's really freaky." Tyler replied.

"So what? People just disappear?"

He nodded.

"Weird…what do you think it is, Ty?"

"Well, I think it's some ghost or something." He was silent for a long while, and I just looked at him with a quizzical expression.

"A ghost? Really, man?"

"No. But I do think it's pretty weird. Maybe someone let Magilla Gorilla out from the zoo and gave him rabies. Either way, the good ol' NYPD can't discern the weapon used…or the causes of death, for that matter."

I thought about it for a second. Just what could do damage like that without there being an obvious cause of death? I determined that I'd have to be extra careful taking walks. After all, the abandoned neighborhood mentioned was a few blocks from my house. I wouldn't want to get caught up in it, becoming one of the lost people who went into the neighborhood and never came back.

"Huh…I'll be careful to never go to Westhaven street then." I decided.

* * *

Class was pretty boring. I'd like to tell you about how exciting it was, that I'd talked to a lot of people, but I mostly kept to myself in all honesty. Other classes were simply lectures and writing notes – the usual for high school. Other classes gave us easy tests that I was able to pass without a problem. It's not like I was an academic genius or anything; the classes I've gotten this year were pretty easy.

When class was over, I walked down the main hall with my friend Tyler. We exchanged inappropriate and "controversial" jokes. That's what I loved about Tyler, he was never afraid to say anything at any given time. He always made me laugh with his completely outlandish way of thinking.

Getting on the bus was orderly, contrasting to the hustle of the morning. But I guess that's mostly because of the fact that I'm last on the bus at the end of the day. I took the back seat instead of the very middle, which I took in the mornings.

The ride back home was quiet. Well, as quiet as a bus ride can be. Most of the people in the bus spoke relief about how it was Friday, and the kids in the front spoke to the bus driver about Church or something. I simply leaned my head against the wall, taking off my glasses and putting them in my book bag so they were safe. I didn't really need to wear my glasses to see, it's just that I've gotten used to wearing them, so I'd wear them often.

My home was in a more suburban area of New York. The school was a little far away, but I was still in its zone because apparently there weren't any closer by schools. I found that weird and unbelievable, but I didn't question it because I had my friend Tyler at George Washington High. And hey, I hated switching schools. Every time I switched schools, I had this weird week of awkwardness before anyone spoke to me.

I opened my front door with my house key. When I got inside, my mom , Valarie Schneider, was there, speaking on the phone as usual. Everyone said I looked a lot like my mom, and I have to say that I can see it. We both had the same nose and smile, but her hair was black in contrast to my dirty blonde.

"Hey, mom, I'm home." I called out to her. My mother glanced at me and held up a finger as if to say "one second".

I shrugged and walked upstairs. I was used to my parents not paying much attention to me at this point. Hey, I was a teenager. And I'd be out of the house in just a year. It's not that I viewed my parents as a means to an end or anything of the sort, it's just that there wasn't much communication going on. They didn't know about my social issues or my views on life.

When I got upstairs, I shut myself in my room as usual, surfing the web with my cellphone for…useless crap. Every once in a while, I came across a cool science article or a TVTropes entry and read it, but I mostly just laughed at stupidly cheesy pictures.

A few minutes later, my mom knocked on my door. I got up from my lounging position on my bed and opened it for her, and I was met with her blue eyes meeting mine.

"Sorry, honey. I was talking to your grandma – we're going to visit her for thanksgiving." She gave me that kind, motherly smile that I'd always recognize. Even though I was distant from my parents, my mom was still the nicest person in the world. She allowed me freedom and everything, as long as my grades were good. And hey, I think that was a pretty good deal.

"Oh, nah, it's fine. We're going to grandma's house for thanksgiving? Awesome." I responded.

"Yeah. Hey, how was school?"

"Boring. I took a test in Chemistry and World History – both of those were easy. And in Trigonometry we just wrote notes. Gym we ran…" That was what my usual day consisted of.

"Ah, I see. Well, I'll be downstairs if you need me. Dinner will be ready in a little while."

I nodded. "Alright, mom. Thanks."

* * *

I went downstairs when I smelled dinner. Homemade mashed potatoes and pork chops…my favorite. My dad was home by the time it was ready, which was around the time it was getting dark. I looked less like my dad than I did my mom – he had my curly dirty blonde hair, but that was about it. His nose was straight, and his face ridden with wrinkles and worry lines from his stressful job as a detective.

I had to admit, I looked up to my dad. I wanted to be a detective just like him. I'd often ask about the things he had to do on the job, and he'd give me these crazy stories about the murder cases. But now thinking back on what Tyler told me, it made me wonder why he never told me about the Westhaven Street murders…maybe he wasn't put on the case?

Either way, I decided to bring it up.

"So, dad…do you know anything about the Westhaven murders?"

My father's face darkened, and he seemed to have tensed. I could see from his body language that this was a sore subject. But he spoke anyway.

"We…don't know. Which is why I don't want to see you anywhere near that neighborhood, alright? Too risky." My father's tone was stern.

"..Alright, just askin'. Geez…"

"I'm serious, Mason. Don't. Go. Near. Westhaven." My father seemed to have punctuated that last sentence for emphasis.

"C'mon, Harry…" My mom began, handing us our plates of food. "He was just asking. Mason is curious! It's common for his age."

My father sighed, but he didn't respond. Either way, he was acting pretty weird about it…I mean, any time there was a case nearby, he'd still tell me all the same.

But from his response…one thing was for certain: I was going to Westhaven.

* * *

A funny thing about sneaking out is that I've never done it before, but it was easier than I thought. At approximately three o'clock, when my parents were asleep, my phone alarm vibrated in my hand and I got up. Fishing in my closet for dark clothes, I took out a pair of black pants with a long-sleeved black shirt and a black beanie.

I took my keys and tiptoed downstairs and to the front door. Carefully unlocking it, I slowly and quietly stepped out and closed the door behind me just as silently. Walking down the wooden steps of my porch, I was greeted with…

Strings. A lot of strings. Threads that came from my body, going in seemingly every direction. Front, back, sideways…the directions were limitless.

Now, I'd like to say it stopped getting weird from there, but as soon as I took my first step, the whole landscape appeared to change. The suburban landscape became vast, beautiful, and seemingly limitless. The hedges and grass grew long and wild, seeming pregnant with wonder and surrealism. The cityscape in the distance became exaggerated and vast, skyscrapers seemed to reach up to the sky, and the whole cityscape seemed forever moving as if alive.

Out of the clear, dark blue night sky came a hurricane out of random. It's strong winds blew things over, destroying them, and even knocking me back a little. But in the same amount of time, a large heat wave completely cooled the hurricane-frosted area. And in the minute after that, there was a blizzard. Then a tornado. Then a heatwave.

The weather was fickle as fuck.

"….What the hell?"

The sun rose and fell, and the time went from a beautiful, haunting nighttime to a bright, sunny day. Time went by quickly. I noticed things aging and breaking down quickly, then getting rebuilt several times over. This change was constant…this place was a place of change.

I made my way through the beautiful chaos, a hand over my face to guard from the rain, the blizzards, and the random earthquakes that shook below my feet. I walked past strange-looking folk. Every one of them seemed to be inhumanly tall and thin, with gray skin and black eyes, but beautiful beyond measure.

'Well,' I thought. 'This is the mindfuck of the century.'

I walked to one of the tall folk, looking up to his eyes, but it was hard due to the inconsistently strong winds. I asked the most obvious question.

"…What is this place?"

The being, previously staring into space, slowly turned his eyes down to me.

"I am of the sun and the moon. Of the hour and the minute. And I, at this very moment, stand on what is the world as it relates to you. Change is important. Remember that, young man." And then he disappeared. So, being the simple-minded guy I was, I sort of stood there a moment to think about what the actual fuck he just said, but I eventually decided to keep moving on.

I seemed to be moving at inconsistent speeds. One minute, I'm walking normally, then the next I'm walking slowly, then the next I'm walking really quickly, as if time had sped up.

And then I came across another street, one that was frozen with the snow, but the heat was blazing. At this point, I had stopped trying to figure out where I was. I'd just gone with the flow…maybe this was just some kind of dream. My actual alarm would wake me up any minute now..

I walked up to a woman…I think. It was hard to tell, because this being seemed to age by the seconds. One second, she was a little girl, then the other she was an attractive woman, and then the other, she was a shriveled up lady.

I don't know why, but I asked her a question too. "…Where the hell am I?"

Hell. That word whispered through the air, and suddenly the landscape changed completely. The blue sky turned dark, and fire burst from the windows of every house. I dove for cover as a volcano randomly appeared behind me, slowly oozing out lava. The streets went red, and thunderstorms clouded the sky.

"…What the—"

"Words are power, Mason. Especially in this realm." The woman began, inexplicably right in front of me despite being in the range of the volcano a few seconds ago. I looked up at her, wondering how she knew my name.

"What?"

"Time is a whole. Months, days, weeks…they're merely pieces of a transcendent whole. A string in the tapestry. Remember that…young man."

And then the landscape changed back to the old cityscape. I got up and looked around cautiously before going ahead. At this point, I heard something calling to me…sweetly and alluringly, I heard something whisper my name. I kept pushing forward…I had to know where that voice was from.

"Mason…" The voice called out. The blizzards grew thicker and thicker, and my already soaked clothes became cold, making me shiver violently. I didn't know how I'd survive this cold…but of course, powerful tornadoes swept the land, destroying the constantly decaying and rebuilding landscape, and everything merely rebuilt again.

I eventually came to this area where it was night time. Above, stars filled the sky and a beautiful crescent moon cast silver light upon all that was below it. Huge, silver water fountains lined the marble road as I slowly made my way through. And that's when I saw what was ahead…what called to me, lured me to its domain.

Ahead was a tower…made completely of brambles. The moon shone off its silvery thorns, creating a sort of…mystical feel to it. I felt a warm, alien presence that could best be described as otherworldly. I heard singing in the background…as around the tower, but nowhere near it, time went on inconsistently. But not here…no, this was where I was supposed to be. My journey was over.

Walking to the tower, I opened the wooden door and went inside.

Inside there were a series of round chambers, each spiraling upwards in order from largest to smallest. Things only got weirder from there, because I seemingly left my body and watched myself go through the chambers. Each chamber had familiar features…features from my past, in fact. I saw one that had my first room…then the next one had a scene of my very first day in school. These fond memories filled me with nostalgia…but I pressed on ahead.

At the very top of the tower, the upward spiral ended. On the wall, there was a large stack of papers that said, "Your name here".

I was in my body again, and I knew exactly what to do. Digging into my pocket, I took out a marker that was always there apparently. And from there, I wrote my name.

_Mason Schneider_

A blinding light filled the tower, and I fell down on the disappearing landscape. I fell down into the darkness, below…

And quickly, I woke up, back to my senses. I looked around and saw that I was wearing my black clothes…I just wasn't in front of my house. I was holding a marker to the plaque of a statue – a statue of Abraham Lincon.

I up from my kneeling position and looked at the green street sign ahead.

It was a dirty, faded sign, but I could read it all too clear: Westhaven Street.


	2. Chapter 2 - Luck of the Fae

Like any rational human being, I just freaked out for a little while. After all, I _did _venture through some sort of otherworldly plane. Then I find myself to be in front of Westhaven. Yeah…at the moment, this was incredibly creepy.

So after I was finished screaming, I stopped, dead silent for a second to see if anyone would come out of their house to see who made the scream. Nobody came, thankfully. I looked down at my hand, eyeing the marker I used to write my name in the inside of the watchtower...then at the name I wrote on the plaque. My name.

_Yeah…this is totally creepy. _I thought, but I still marched on, past the sign that said Westhaven Street and into the dark neighborhood.

Nobody is exaggerating when they say Westhaven is an abandoned neighborhood. I know, it sounds like something out of a corny horror movie or something, but Westhaven's population was zero. As I walked in, I could immediately feel…the lack of presence inside the neighborhood. The houses on either side of the road were either towed down or just…abandoned. The street lights weren't on, making it completely dark. I could only see a few feet in front of me.

"Flashlight…right." I thought out loud, taking out my flashlight and clicking it on. It was a little better now that I could see a little more than a few feet in front of myself, 'course the only glimpse of anything I got was the occasional lamp post and just…grass.

_Well…this is boring. _I thought to myself. What was I so scared for in the first place? This neighborhood was nothing but lamp posts and abandoned houses. I even determined that the serial killer wasn't even there. So, I simply turned around and began walking in another direction, back to where I came from.

Fate, apparently, had other plans.

I heard gunshots right as I was about to exit. Now, this wasn't a simple gunshot…no, this was a full blown gunfight. Part of me wondered how the cops didn't notice this…or even the residents next to the neighborhood, but another part of me made me push on. In the distance, I could see red and orange lights flicker on and off rapidly – gunfire. I could see groups of shadows flickering against the walls, which showed me that there were multiple people involved. These weren't serial murders…these were gang killings.

I knew I was stupid for doing it, but I felt compelled to go towards the fire. It's as if I knew I was supposed to be there…fate was guiding me. I slowly and reluctantly walked across the sidewalk, my flashlight on so I made sure not to make any noises to alert them. I wasn't going to be a victim of gang violence anytime soon.

Finally, I reached the cul-de-sac that had both sides shooting at each other. But that's when I started seeing strange things – walls of rock shielding a group of them as they all took cover from the gunfire that was being thrown at the people from the other side. They seemingly took turns shooting, or they'd occasionally shoot a volley of bullets at the same time.

I hid behind a rusted, broken down car and observed. Something told me I should watch them…and frankly I was pretty interested myself. The whole scene became all the more stranger when I saw one group shoot flame out of their fingertips, and another group block it with a wall of darkness.

At this point, I thought I was dreaming again. I mean, to my knowledge, people couldn't just shoot flame out of their fingers, or even create walls of darkness. But right in front of me…this was all happening. Two gangs were shooting at each other then occasionally doing something strange, like slicing one of the other party's hands off with seemingly just a thought.

What was even stranger is that neither parties had any clothing on that made me identify them as gang members…one side simply were people – mostly men – with guns, and the other side were simply the same…people with guns.

Eventually they ran out of ammo, which was pretty relieving, I guess… That is, until they simply threw either energy, flame, or other things at each other. One side apparently thought, "This is enough!" and closed his eyes in an intense focus. The other side stopped and looked at each other, as if there were something big coming.

And oh…how there was something big coming.

I watched as the very…space in between the two gangs just completely disappeared, making the two groups close enough to knife each other. From there, it was a massacre. Each side took out a bladed weapon and tore each other apart. Swords clanked against each other, blades stabbed into vital areas on the body.

At this point, I was just shaking. Things like this shouldn't happen…so I assumed that it was a dream. I pathetically resorted to pinching myself to wake myself up, but as the annoying pain flared on my forearm, I was forced to accept the reality – this reality. People could shoot fire out of their fingertips, or just…delete space like that.

I did what anyone else would do. I took off and ran.

I was almost to the end of the neighborhood, panting and sweating, when one of the guys just appeared in front of me. Now…this guy didn't look very human. No…he was hideous…sure, you could tell that he was human, but now he just looked grotesque. His nose was oversized, and his lips and eyes bulged out. His ears were small, and his eyes were completely black, contrasting to his silvery-pale skin. His appearance was unnatural…but if he put on makeup or something, he might be able to pass it for a genetic mutation.

And then a smirk stretched across his face – a long, twisted smirk.

Seeing as how he appeared right in front of me when I was sprinting, I jumped and fell on my back. I looked up at him with a horrified look on my face, but the man only responded by taking his pistol out of the holster in his belt.

"Don't be scared," The man said in a twisted, soothing voice. For that second, I felt compelled to not be scared…I felt like it wasn't that big of a deal. "give up your will to The Abyss."

I simply closed my eyes. Dying…I knew that it would happen someday, like when I was old and wrinkly or something, but not like this. I should've listened to my dad…this place really was trouble. But here I was..at approximately 3:40 in the morning…about to get shot in the streets like a dog or something.

_BANG!_

"MY HAAND!" Everything was going so quickly. I heard a gunshot, but I didn't…feel dead. I didn't think I was dead. No…I was definitely breathing, so I was definitely alive. The shock of it was almost overwhelming…and I felt tired, as if I were burned out or something.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER. LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO MY HAND! DAMN ACANTHUS MAGES, DAMN—"

I looked up at who was going to be my killer. The gun was on the ground, half destroyed and covered in blood. My killer filled the air with screams of pain, curses, and death threats, but I eventually saw what seemed to be bony, bloody nub where his hand was supposed to be…as if his hand was blown off.

"I'LL KILL YOU. I WILL FIND WHERE YOU LIVE AND FUCKING SCOOP YOUR EYEBALLS OUT WITH A SPOON. DO YOU HEAR ME?"

I needed to get out of there before this guy attracted too much attention. In his confusion and anger, he fell to the ground. His once angry curses and rambles were reduced to unintelligible babbling and curses under his breath. I got up slowly and ran in the direction I was heading to before…which was out of the neighborhood. More specifically, it was back to my house.

I thought about my near death experience on the way. The whole experience was shocking, and I was tired and confused, but I remembered the feeling I felt when I was close to death. I completely surrendered my mortality, leaving it to the bullet that would've pierced my head. But then it turned out that the gun had exploded somehow and blew his hand off? When does that ever happen? It was definitely improbable…that couldn't have happened on normal conditions. But maybe I was just…lucky.

Yeah, it sounded stupid. I mean, I've never been lucky a day in my life, but the situation that happened just then was clearly lucky. What were the odds? It's not like his gun wasn't prepared the right way. They aren't muskets, so you don't have to give them to a professional to prepare anymore, right?

But no…I had legitimately survived a murder attempt. Someone's hand blew up trying to shoot me, and I was here running for my life.

I'll have to be honest…I felt invincible after that. I felt that nothing could hurt me…and really, who could blame me for thinking such a thing? As far as I was concerned, I was the luckiest guy in the world, and nobody could hurt me. Not ever. 

* * *

The next morning, I was grateful to find that my parents were asleep – and oblivious that I had sneaked out that night. My luck…I was just on a roll. Maybe god was giving me a freebie after all of those years of awkwardness and the horrible bullying in fifth grade. All other guys in high school were having their good time, but now it was time for the Golden Age of Mason Schneider. I was going to live my life the best I could from that moment on.

I even got up at a good time, which allowed me my usual morning routine of driving to Starbucks. As I got myself up, I looked at the mirror. It was the same old dorky look…glasses and a button up shirt, probably jeans also. How was I going to have my Golden Age if I looked so…stupid? No, I was actually going to try. This day and all other days afterward were going to be the best day of my life if it killed me.

"Perfect." I said to myself, looking into the mirror and finally being pleased with my appearance. I wore a white tee shirt with an abstract symbol on it – a four dimensional cube or something – and black pants with a hooded leather jacket on. Since it was cold, I wore my black beanie. Being cool didn't mean you had to be cold, right?

I then took the keys and told my parents I was going to Starbucks, and they simply waved me off, clearly tired still. I got into the car and started the ignition, pulling out of the driveway and driving down the road, towards where Starbucks was. Much to my amazement, none of the jaded New Yorker drivers were driving like…well, jaded New Yorkers. No, this was actually pretty orderly…at least orderly enough for me to safely get by.

When I parked by the Starbucks, however, the place was pretty packed. I groaned, but I wasn't going to let this ruin my day. It was just a long line, it's not like it was going to pull out a gun and try to kill me. Laughing at my thought, I got out of the car and walked through the door.

The sound of acoustic music filled the overall chill café; which was nice…I wasn't a good fan of the music, but I loved the atmosphere. It was a great start for breakfast in the morning. People around my age or older conversed in the line or at tables, and I just slid my hands into my pocket.

"So, did you hear?" I overheard one of the conversations. "This guy appeared in the hospital last night…his hand was blown off. The cops asked him how this happened, but he wasn't talkin'."

"Ooh! Yeah, I heard that! Wasn't he…deformed or something?" The speaker's friend asked back.

"Yeah…it looked like some weird form of down syndrome. I dunno…maybe he was a retard and he just blew his hand off with a gun?" The speaker said back. I glanced over at them, and it was a guy with a reasonably cute girl. They looked like they were on a date or something.

But it seemed that guy who accidentally blew his hand off with his own gun went into the hospital. I felt the urge to find out who he was…who he was working for. What I saw back there when people were shooting flames out of their hands.

_DAMN ACANTHUS MAGES!_ I remembered that guy saying back last night. A few questions went through my head…like what exactly was an Acanthus? Now that I thought about it…it was a species of plant, right? And he called me a mage…so did he mean to call me an Acanthus Plant Mage? I was kind of dumbfounded…I mean, why would he call me an Acanthus? Maybe it was some gang code or something…I'd have to look it up when I got back home.

"Hey…your order?"

The voice of the rather adorable cashier broke me out of thought. But she seemed a little…different from the others. In contrast to the neat and kempt style that most girls at this café tried to maintain, this girl didn't even bother. She had unkempt, curly black hair that went to her shoulders, and red highlights along her curls. Her bangs parted at her forehead, just enough to show her blue-green eyes. Her pale skin had freckles that contrasted to her black hair. Her nose was straight and triangular, and as she looked up at me, I could see a few forehead lines.  
Underneath her Starbucks apron, I could see a bright, green neon shirt. Her pants were just as loud; they were a bright red with white splattered on them as if it were paint.

I thought she was one of those scene girls or something, granted, a pretty cute scene girl, so I didn't rule out talking to her.

"Oh! My order. I'll have, uhh…" I turned my head upwards to look at what they had sale. I decided I'd just get what I usually got. "I'll just have a caramel mocha chino with extra whipped cream."

The girl shrugged. "It'll be done in a few seconds."

I simply nodded and walked away. Wait, no, I actually wanted to talk to her. I remembered that...but by the time I remembered, there was already someone in my place taking their order. I supposed fair was fair…after all, I'd at least gotten a good start to the day. Luck couldn't take me everywhere.

After getting my coffee, I simply walked back to the register once everybody had ordered and I hadn't seen anyone else coming in. Sure, I was lucky and everything that she didn't look at me like I was an idiot, but I still didn't know how to start the conversation. But of course, she was looking right in front of me at that point, and I had no choice but to say _something. _

"So, uh – hey!" I began. So far, so good.

The girl behind the cash register simply arched an eyebrow. "…Hello?"

Yeah, this conversation was totally getting somewhere. "So, uh…uh… You have a pretty interesting sense of fashion."

There was a short period of silence. And by short, I actually mean long. The girl served a few other customers before handing over her shift to some dude that was previously making the drinks. Apparently it was her break or something, because she walked from behind the register to me.

"Sorry about that. It tends to be hard to speak during work, y'know? So, what were you saying about my fashion?" She asked, gesturing over to a table near the window so that we could speak. Man…she was much better at this than I was. But I couldn't stop here.

_Luck, don't fail me now…_ I thought to myself.

"Well, uh…I was saying it was pretty nice. So, you from around here?"

"I've been living here since I was five, yeah. I live in the neighborhood. I was born in Miami though. What about you?"

"I was born in Boston." I replied. Her eyes widened a little, as if that had caught her attention. I don't know what was so fascinating about Boston though…sure, I've never been there and everything, but it couldn't be much different from any other city, right? "But I moved around a lot. Seattle after Boston…then here in the Big Apple."

She smiled. And, for the record, she probably had to have the cutest smile ever. "Well, that's pretty cool. You must've seen a lot of ancient cultures, huh?"

I nodded. "So, why don't I ever see you at George Washington High then?"

I silently prayed to whatever deity that was in charge of the situation that she didn't go to the school and that the reason I never saw her was because she didn't go there. You know…as opposed to me never paying enough attention to see her around.

"Well…I go to a private school. Very expensive." And that's where I got intimidated. Her parents were rich? My parents were low-middle class at best.

"Ah, so you're one of those super smart kids that have the ability to move things with their minds?" I asked in a joking tone.

She laughed at my joke. Woah…I really was getting lucky here. That joke was pretty corny, if I do say so myself. "Yes, I'm one of those super smart kids with the ability to move things with my mind. Fear me and my psionic prowess."

Be still, my gentle heart.

I chuckled. "But seriously though, what kind of school?"

"The school is secret. Won't be able to find us on Google Maps or anything…in fact, the headmaster doesn't want us to tell anyone about it, soo…"

It seemed understandable, so I didn't pry. "I see, I see. Say…how about we go on a date somewhere? Next Friday, maybe?"

She seemed pretty surprised that I popped the question so early and to be honest, I was too. I guess that my luck had given me confidence…I literally felt as if I could do anything if I left it up to chance. Luck was my friend…and it would never let me down.

"Confident one, aren't you?" She tilted her head.

"Well…I've always been lucky."

Uh-oh. Her eyebrow arched, as if she were thinking something over. There was a short period of silence as she looked me over for some reason. At first, I thought that I was too confident and she thought I was some kind of asshole, but then she asked me a simple question:

"Define…lucky."

"Well," I began, finding no reason to lie to her. "I always seem to get through things easier if I just…go with the flow, if that makes sense. That's all I meant."

And now she was frowning as if she were really thinking something over. The suspense in the silence was killing me, I felt as if she was going to shoot me down in the cruelest way possible.

"I-Is…there something wrong…?" I asked, almost timidly.

"…No." She said finally, breaking the silence. She shrugged casually, but I had a feeling that she was playing it cool for some reason. "Yeah, we can go out – tomorrow."

I didn't really care much about her taking charge and changing the time of the date. In fact, the only reason I didn't make it Sunday was in case she was either super-religious or she'd take it as me going in too fast.

"Tomorrow…got it." I agreed.

"Meet me here? Seven o'clock? We'll go for a walk." And then she gave me that cute smile again. I couldn't help but agree.

"Seven o'clock…gotcha."

Weirdly, I couldn't tell if I was asking someone out, or getting asked out myself…


	3. Chapter 3 - Initiating Moment

The girl was already there by the time I got to Starbucks at seven o'clock the next day. Now that she was out of work clothes, I got a better look at her loud dressing style. She wore neon blue jeans with a neon green teeshirt that had glowing white circuit board patterns that lit up. Over her teeshirt was a light brown leather jacket that seemed too thin to protect her from the cold, but she didn't seem to be bothered by it. At first, I thought her loud sense of style was because it got pretty dark at night, but then I realized that was probably legitimately her fashion. She also cleaned up a little and…wow.

I mean, sure, she was cute before. But she was actually a very beautiful girl. Sure, she had her imperfections…like that weird gleam in her eye. It looked like lightning and ever-lasting energy…but I was sure I was just imagining it. I didn't bring it up in fear that I'd freak her out a little.

She was listening to her iPod when I got there. I could hear the loud music from there – it was some bizarre mix of metal and electronic music. I've never heard it in my life…hell, I didn't even know what to call it but I liked what I heard.

"You're late." She said as soon as I came close enough. Weirdly, she'd been looking down at her iPod, so I don't know how she knew I was there.

"Fashionably late." I countered.

"What does that even mean?" She asked, her intense blue-green eyes on my face.

"…I don't know." I scratched the back of my head. "Sorry though. The walk all the way over here is pretty long."

"Why didn't you just take your car? I saw that you had one yesterday."

And then, I felt stupid. "Well…you said we're going for a walk, so I walked here. It never occurred to me—"

She merely laughed. "It's okay. Don't hurt yourself. C'mon."

She then stood upright from her former leaning-on-the wall position and began walking to the left, obviously expecting me to follow. I kept up beside her, sliding my hands in my pockets. Luckily for me, she had enough respect to take off her headphones so she'd hear me talk.

"So, uh..." I began, breaking the silence. "What is a girl like you doing working in Starbucks? I'm assuming your parents are rich because of the whole private school thing."

"Actually – before we start going into things like that…we have to know each other's names first. Call me Alexandria." She completely ignored my question. And strangely enough, she seemed more serious than yesterday.

"No last name…?" I asked.

"None necessary." She replied. "Now, it's your turn…"

None necessary? What was that supposed to mean? She was starting to sound a little crazy.

"I'm Mason."

"Mason…alright." I could see a hint of a smirk on her face. "Alright, Mason, you said you were always lucky, right? Tell me what you mean?"

I arched a brow. "Christ, girl."

She stopped and looked up at me. "What?"

"You never answered my question."

"Well, as some wise dude that was probably from China said, 'Good things come to those who wait'. Answer my questions, and I'll answer yours. Okay?"

Well, this was starting to feel more like an interview than a date. I didn't know how to feel about it…a girl with apparently no last name was asking me about my luck. I honestly didn't know anything about it myself. It just came to me…but it was after that night with the guy that pointed the gun to my head.

"Okay. My luck? Well…sometimes nice things would happen. Like yesterday, when I was driving to Starbucks. The traffic was flawless – sure, there was the occasional jaded New Yorker that drove like a suicidal pigeon, but it was…better than usual, y'know?" I explained the best I could. Alexandria looked like she wanted more explanation.

"That's it? Surely there's more…"

"Well…" I began hesitantly. It was at that second that I noticed how crazy it'd sound. I mean, what were the odds? Sure, it happened right before my eyes, but in hindsight, it was pretty surreal. "Okay, uh…do you know about Westhaven Street? Y'know, the abandoned neighborhood that all those murders take place in?"

Alexandria gave me a look that said, 'All too well'. "Yeah…I know about it. What about it?" She seemed interested now.

"Well, this thug dude was going to shoot me in the head. And uh…it turns out the gun was jammed. As soon as he tried to shoot, the gun blew off his hand."

Alexandria smiled. It was a knowing smile…as if someone just told an inside joke that only she knew about.

"What?" I demanded.

"Nothing." She replied. "So, this thug…is there anything weird you noticed about him? Did he look strange?"

I imagined the grotesque, mean face that looked down on me that night.

"He was incredibly…ugly. Grotesque. His features weren't proportionate…especially not his nose." I shuddered. The whole event was a bad experience…but it was also then that I found out how lucky I was.

"Mhm…" Alexandria seemed to be deep in thought. It was getting a little awkward from there, so I broke the silence.

"You said you'd answer my questions, right? So – are your parents rich?"

I could see that I broke her out of her thought, so she looked up at me. "They're pretty well off, I'd say. I was mostly accepted to my current private school because of my grades, though."

"Ah, so you're a smart girl." I smiled. "I'm fine with that. I'm not particularly bright…"

"Oh? I'm sure that's not true. I have an eye for people, y'know." She nudged me.

"It's totally true. I do the stupidest things sometimes!" I chuckled, stopping before a 'Don't Walk' sign and allowing the traffic to pass through.

"Hey," She began. "We all do. I do too sometimes. It's not what makes us stupid, it's what makes us human."

And then she continued ahead when the sign said 'Walk'. I rushed alongside her. I thought about her strange questions for a little while. Why did she want to know so much about her luck? Surely it was just chance. It's not like there was anything special about me, I was just lucky.

Alexandria studied my expression. "You don't know about your luck, do you?"

That certainly caught my interest. "Yeah, I know about my luck…and that's all it is?"

She stopped right there, in the middle of the foot traffic with me. The people that were walking behind us just went around. Alexandria looked at me as if I were stupid…and that made me think I did something wrong or something.

"By the Oracles, you ARE stupid."

"What? What did I say?"

"Okay, Mason – what are the chances of someone's gun being jammed RIGHT as they're about to shoot you? Don't you think that, logically, the guy would've taken the time to check if the gun was jammed before he tried to shoot you?"

"…The chances are low..?" I said dumbly.

"Very low." She corrected. "Your luck is supernatural, Mason. You're not a normal guy….well, not anymore, at least."

"Woah, hold up…what do you mean? Supernatural? Oh god…you've been reading too much Harry Potter, hadn't you?"

"Hey!" She chided. "Harry Potter is a great book! Look – the point is you're not a normal human anymore. You're no longer asleep. And with your power comes great responsibility."

Now she was bringing Spiderman into this? "I…have no idea what you're talking about. I really don't."

Alexandria half frowned. "Alright, then tell me, have you ever been to a strange place?"

My face went completely blank. "I've been to strange places all the time. Be more specific."

"I have a feeling you know what I mean." She shot a knowing glance. I thought back to that weird realm I was in last night, the place with the random weather patterns and the strange beings that said strange things.

"I…"

"Look, you don't have to make sense of it now. Hell, I don't expect you to. But just…consider it, okay? Also come here tomorrow."

"Why?"

She huffed. "Just do it, okay? There's a lot more I have to tell you."

Before I knew it, our walk had ended. We went around the block and were at the entrance of Starbucks again.

"It's been fun." Alexandria said after a little while. "You should get home. And…be careful, alright? Whatever you do, DON'T try to do anything special in front of humans. In fact, keep it to a minimum."

If she wanted me to keep my luck to a minimum, I didn't know how I was going to do that.

"I'll try." I lied.

* * *

The Monday morning alarm blared and I darted up from my bed as usual, getting dressed and brushing my teeth. I was alone in the house in the morning, as per usual. It was only then that I noticed how boring my morning routine was. I was growing tired of the same pattern…it felt like a prison.

"No." I said to myself in the mirror. "Today is going to be a different day."

I actually talked to people on the bus. They didn't say anything I'd be interested in, as usual, but it was a nice change of routine. A few kids on the bus knew my name…but no, that wasn't enough for me. I felt that I could take a risk. No…I felt like I had to take a risk, or die of boredom.

And then I looked ahead at the bus driver, who was fussing at a couple of students in the front. It was something about doing drugs and how evil rap music was or something – the usual thing people did if they had no imagination. I huffed to myself, standing up and walking to the front.

The bus driver always looked disgusting. Like most bus drivers, she was overweight, and her almost-gray hair was pulled back into a tight bun. She wore jeans and a coat, not that she would need it. I was pretty sure she was in the house all day and every day. Her skin was disgustingly tan, and her frame wasn't only fat…but it was big too. It was like she was actually a guy or something.

"Sit down." She said to me as I made my way to the door of the bus.

"Let me out." I replied simply.

"Sit down or you'll get written up."

"No. I decided that since we aren't very far from the school, I want to walk home." I was determined to break my usual routine. Even if it were something as simple as walking, I couldn't commit to riding the bus for one more day.

It turns out, the bus driver had absolutely no problem with letting me out. In fact, she kicked me out. I stumbled down the stairs, luckily not falling flat on my face before looking back to the smirk on my bus driver's face. She closed the door and drove off at a high speed so I wouldn't be able to catch up.

"Huh…rude." I mumbled before going on my merry little way.

The walk to my school was amazing. I took many different routes and roads that I hadn't taken before – routes and roads that I hadn't SEEN before. For the strangest reason, as people walked by, I could see where they were going…not just in general, but in life. I could see where the wind would take them, and this weird ability manifested themselves as intangible strings. Each one was a different color, tangling the person like yarn. And they all went into the direction it pointed…not out of the need to do it, but simply that's where life took them. It was the logical step after all the events that had lead up to this moment.

And even more…I understood. I understood that they were threads of fate. It reminded me of the ever-changing terrain of the realm I was in just the other night. The feel about it…it's not that it kept changing, it's just that it always changed. The strings were there too – connecting to everything, mapping the very destiny of change like some colorful tapestry. That's what was happening here. The world was ever changing…but fate remained the same. Fate bound us all.

When I got to school, I wasn't early as usual. This was pretty good for me – after all, the place was so boring and empty when I was early. The first thing I did was look around for Tyler, but I assumed he wasn't there after three minutes of searching. I got bored…I was sure he wasn't at school anyway.

I decided to skip breakfast for once and just get something from the snack machine; a twinkie. Just as I was eating it, and thinking about how satanic it was that Hostess almost stopped selling those delicious yellow cakes, I caught a glimpse of this guy bullying Tyler. I felt horrible for a second…I just assumed Tyler wasn't there. I didn't look around long enough, and if I had then Tyler wouldn't be in the situation he was in then. I was growing more and more fickle, and it was starting to bother me.

Now, Tyler wasn't the guy that anyone messed with. It's not that he was a tough guy – by all means, he wasn't, but Tyler was such a nice guy to everyone, and everybody seemed to have no qualms with his sense of humor. That's why I did a double-take when I first saw it. He was getting pushed around by this large dude that was built like a truck; Tyler didn't stand a chance. Even I felt conflicted about jumping in to help him.

But, being the type to help my friends, I quickly intervened before a punch was thrown. The gigantic dude – let's call him Bulldog – looked at me as if I'd just poked him between the eyes. He seemed heavily pissed. His face was red, he was sweating, and a low growl came from the back of his throat…it made me wonder what Tyler had said.

"Okay, okay, no need to punch him! What'd he even do?" I asked, trying to maintain the peace in the situation.

"Dude, I dunno, he's like on his man period or something." Tyler said from behind me. I glanced at him before looking forward at Bulldog.

"Well?"

"He's fucking annoying! Always talking, always making jokes that nobody understands. I'm sick of his ass." Bulldog growled back.

I responded in a flat, monotone voice. "…So, as opposed to doing the less psychopathic thing and uh…ASKING HIM TO LEAVE, you decided to punch him? Really dude? What the fuck is this, prison?"

Oh no, I shouldn't have done that. Right then and there, he threw a punch straight for my face. My luck wasn't enough to help me. He got me right in the eye before I was able to dodge. I stumbled back a few feet before regaining my balance. Jeez, this guy hit like a truck!

"Woah, you certainly lift," I commented as I felt my eye to see if it were swollen. And much to my dismay, it actually was black. That motherfucker.

And he was still coming. Like a berserker, he came towards me in a mad rage. Now, I didn't know anything about fighting except for attempting videogame moves on my friends when I was younger, so being in an actual fight was actually pretty difficult for me. There was more tension, and more pressure. I barely dodged the next punch, and that was probably only because of my "supernatural luck".

Students crowded around us, chanting "FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT" as I dodged the heavy hits of Bulldog. Said dodges made me look pathetic and weak, but it kept me from getting knocked out thankfully. He kept going and I kept dodging until I saw him pick up breath. That was my chance. I stepped back a little to get a running start, and then I left it all to fate. If my luck was supernatural, then I'd get at least a good hit on the chest.

I was amazed. I made it to him with the least difficulty. The kids on the sides were throwing pieces of paper and trash, but everything missed me. I would've slipped on a wrapper, but it conveniently slid across the floor as it was thrown. And now that I was right in front of Bulldog, I used the momentum of my run and aimed a punch straight at his torso…

…And it wasn't a good idea at all. First of all, the punch didn't do anything. It was a simple tap on his shoulder, even with the momentum. I guess that it only worked if there was a larger amount of momentum working against him. Second of all, he was about to hit back, but the security guards rushed in and blocked his attack, pulling us both back.

I didn't struggle, but Bulldog sure as hell did. He even threw off a few guards, but they only kept coming.

After the fight, Tyler, Bulldog – apparently his name was Calvin, and I sat in the main office. I was pretty badly beaten…well not really, but I had a pretty bad black eye as a result of it. Calvin had thankfully calmed down – he was one guy I wouldn't want to be alone in the office with. At least Tyler was there to talk to while I waited to be suspended for like…ten days or so.

He was only there because he was dragged into the situation. I was going to defend him with everything I had. Not only because he was my friend, but because he didn't deserve to get dragged into this for being bullied.

We were taken into the principal's office one at a time. First it was Calvin, then it was Tyler…and then it was finally me. When I went inside, the principal seemed to be pretty stressed, so I didn't make much fuss out of empathy and simply sat down in front of him.

The principal was an old guy. He was heavy set and black – very black, I might add. He had a gray mustache and his hair was salt and pepper colored. Wrinkles and stress lines were visible on his face; they were probably from the stress of running a school like…George Washington High. When I came in, he let out a relieved sigh. It was probably because he'd never seen me before since I wasn't the type of guy that'd get into fights like this.

"Look…" He began, his baritone voice ringing through the room like a soft-playing trombone. "Just…tell me what happened. That's all I want. I've gotten several different stories. I just want to see if it adds up."

I didn't waste any time and told him about how the fight started. Part of me was hoping he'd see it as a perfectly noble act and let Tyler and I go on account of that.

"So…you jumped in? Why didn't you just…just call one of the security guards? Son, they're all over the place. Mr. Johnson was there – he told me before you, Calvin and Tyler came in."

I huffed at the mention of Mr. Johnson. While all the other security guards actually did their jobs, he didn't give a fuck. He always told us to "suck it up" or to "solve the problem yourself".

"I'm perfectly aware of that, sir, but I…I didn't want this to turn into an office thing. I had no idea Calvin was going to throw a punch. I just wanted to help Tyler because he was my friend."

"Well now you're going to get suspended for ten days." The Principal replied. "Calvin too. Tyler is getting…considered."

"…Are you kidding me?" I was surprised at how exasperated I sounded. "You're going to suspend him for getting bullied? That isn't fair! Suspend me. Suspend Calvin. We're the ones that fought, okay? Tyler didn't do anything."

"He still didn't call a security guard. That makes him an accessory." The Principal replied in a calm voice.

"Accessory? He was getting bullied! I helped him! Maybe he didn't call a guard because students were crowding around him, Calvin and I." My voice was getting higher with my increasing anger.

"Calm down, son." The Principal replied. "It's the school rules."

"The school rules are BULLSHIT! Seriously, these are the rules we have to follow every day? We can get suspended for just not calling a security guard when we're involved in the fight? So what? You're going to suspend the kids that crowded around us too? Or is that too many people?"

The Principal let out a long, strung-out sigh. I could tell he was stressed now. I almost felt bad.

"What you're going to do…" He began. "Is get up, call your mother, and get out of the school. Come back in ten more days and start no more trouble, got it?"

I scoffed. "Got it. Mr. Fuller."

* * *

One thing I hated about the way my parents parented me was their method of discipline. My mother sent me on a guilt trip, and my father decided the punishment. Dealing with the guilt was enough, but the punishment was just overkill. That being said, my parents were very pissed at me when they bought me back home from my suspension. I told them that I was trying to defend Tyler, but their anger made them irrational.

"I don't care!" My mother began. "We have to work, Mason. We have to work hard to provide a roof over your head and food to eat. Doing that alone is hard enough, but now you get into trouble at school?"

"I didn't know Calvin would—"

"Shut up! Stop talking when I'm talking." My mother snapped. It's funny, because I was pretty sure she was done with her sentence.

"Well, you did ask me a question…" I mumbled.

"What was that?"

I simply shook my head. I didn't want her snapping at me again.

"Go upstairs to your room." My father began. "No TV, no computer, no anything. Study."

I simply sighed and nodded, walking up to my room and closing the door behind me. The only reason I didn't slam it was because I didn't want my mom yelling at me again. I simply plopped on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. I didn't study because I didn't have any important tests in the future..plus my classes were piss easy.

"What do I do now…" I huffed and sat up. I didn't want to fall asleep or anything. I then noticed that my room was filthy, so I cleaned everything up, putting the dirty clothes in the hamper and making my bed. Hopefully that'd cool down my parents.

But once I was done, I found myself bored again. I had that same urge…the urge to do something different. I reached for my remote and turned on the TV, putting my volume on very low until I heard my parents exit the door so they could go back to work. Then I turned it back up.

It was nothing exciting…which was pretty expected, seeing as how it was still early in the morning. Part of me wished I knew what to do. I simply forgot about it, letting my body drift into the tides of chance and flipped through the channels. Things always seemed to go well if I left everything up to chance.

_Channels…channels…channels….Huh?_ I stopped at a channel that appeared to be a religious program. This guy was sitting in a chair in the back of a table, holding a bible in his hand. At the back of him, the British flag was spread across the wall, vibrant and proud. The man looked like one of those hardened vampire hunter dudes. His hair was short, white, and pulled back. He wore what seemed to be a black coat with a blue tie. His gloves were made out of leather, and he had on an eye patch. This guy looked too badass to be real!

"Ladies and gentlemen…" The man began, his Scottish accent cutting through the air like a knife. "I have come to America, from my Church of Saint George on an important matter. Witches."

The TV cut to a scene that looked like the medieval era. Tall men in white clothes and hoods appeared to be burning a girl in a black dress to the stake. The scene was disturbing – all of them chanted in Latin.

"Since the beginning of times, witches…freaks have been in our society, eating our food, sacrificing our children. Summoning evil things into this world…things that you do not want to come face-to-face with. They make infernal pacts with the devil…" The scene cut to what looked like on-camera footage in first person view. Three people were running from whoever was holding the camera. One guy waved his hand backwards, and the space between the guy holding the camera and him seemed to be increasing. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"They are inherently evil…and they can be anyone. Your son could be a witch. _You_ could be a witch."

_Uh…huh._ I thought to myself.

"But fear not, my fellow man." The TV cut back to him as he stood upright. "Join us, and we will eradicate the threat of the witches."

The camera zoomed out, revealing a group of guys in the same uniform as him. Each of them were wearing a cross somewhere on their person.

"Join us, and we will ensure the safety of humanity. Join us….and we will fight for you, your children, and your children's children. Join the Knights of Saint George…today."

_Lame._ I thought, flipping the channel some more. These Knights of Saint George had to be some kind of religious nuts, hunting "witches". What was this? The middle ages?

I then stopped at the news. It was something I watched frequently so that I could learn what was going on.

"—Meanwhile, authorities have found a man at the sight of Westhaven, further bringing confusion to the Westhaven disappearances. Doctors say that this man appears to have some extreme physical deformity, and a very serious form of psychopathy." The camera cut to footage of a guy on a stretcher. I could see him very clearly…

It was the guy that was about to shoot me just the other night, the guy whose hand was blown up by his gun. He was a lot more beat up than I remembered…burn marks all over his body, cuts along his face, scratch marks all over his chest…he looked so beat up that it was a surprise that he was still conscious.

I zoned out from the news and thought about it for a second. This guy was beaten up…and he called me an Acanthus mage. I had a feeling that he knew what was going on. And since I didn't know where Alexandria was…he was my best bet to figuring out how my luck was "supernatural".

"…Edensberg Emergency Room…" I heard from the news channel, breaking me from thought. I knew where that place was…in fact, it was in walking distance. That was lucky for me, seeing as how my parents took the car when they drove off for work. I got up and got dressed, then I took my keys and set out for Edensberg Emergency Room.

When I say that there are, like, a thousand cops there, I mean there were about a thousand cops there. I weaved through all of them, getting to the front desk and meeting the nurse there with a smile. She smiled back…for a second, but her stressed face told me that she really needed a break.

"Hey, uh…this guy that was taken into the hospital recently? The Westhaven guy? Can you tell me what room he's in?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but who are you to him?" The nurse asked, typing into her computer presumably so that she could tell me what room he was in.

_Quick, Mason, think of a lie…_

"Uh…I'm a...relative! Yeah, I just came to see him."

"I'm sorry sir, but the police are currently questioning him." The nurse said as she stopped typing. I assumed that meant that she was done typing up the room number and location.

_Shit._ I thought. I had to think of something…say something at the right timing, perhaps. I then noticed that she was stressed and that it was almost one o'clock, presumably lunch time for her.

I suddenly realized that if I'm ever going to convince her to tell me, now was the time to say it. I didn't know what to say, or how to say it…no, I just knew that _now was the time._

"Uh, ma'am, I apologize if I'm speaking out of turn, but…" I began, quickly thinking of something to at least get her away from the counter. "Just…isn't it lunch time for you? I know how stressful this thing can be – you're a gatekeeper in a way, right? Just…do this one favor for me. Please? Just tell me where my…cousin is, and I'll be on my way, and you'll be at lunch. Deal?"

I could basically see the gears turning in her head. She wanted to say no, but she seemed to be considering the pros and cons. Another feeling washed over me…now was the time to say something else.

"Just a glimpse. I want to see him, that's all. Alright?" I added onto my last sentence.

The nurse let out a tired sigh, glancing down to her monitor. "Paul Greenberg. Room 22B, second floor."

I smiled and nodded. "Thank you, ma'am. Also, how long will it be until the cops are done with their investigation?"

Just then, I heard the "ding" of the elevator. The metal doors opened, and I saw two officers and a guy in a suit and tie walk out.

"As a matter of fact," The nurse replied. "That's them. You're free to go."

The suspense was killing me as I went up in the elevator. My hands shook. I was afraid that I wouldn't like what the man told me. What did he call me? A _mage_? That was somebody that used magic…what if I were one of the witches that the priest dude on television was talking about?

_No, Mason. _I thought to myself. _You're just being paranoid. All you have to do is go into the guy's hotel room, ask him a few questions, then get out. It's that simple._

Paul's room wasn't hard to find. It was just down the hall from the elevator, after all. When I walked in, Paul appeared to be in a full body cast. He was more beat up than I thought he was…his ugly face was even uglier now that it had scratches and scars. His hand was replaced with a hook, and his eyes were almost lifeless. I know I didn't do all of that…but whoever did beat him to an inch of his life.

"Paul…?" I called out, walking over to his bedside and sitting down. Paul turned his brown, bulgy eyes towards me, his irises burning with hate.

"If it isn't the Enchanter on the Path of Thistle…what, did they send you here to finish me off?" Paul spoke in a raspy, tired voice. It was like the pain had kept him up all night or something.

"I…don't know what you're talking about—"

"BULLSHIT!" Paul snapped. The heart monitor increased in beeps, and Paul groaned in slight pain.

"I don't! In fact…I came here to ask you about all of that. If it helps, I apologize for uh…the hand thing." I said, trying to keep a calm and low voice so the nurses didn't come in on account of the ruckus we were making.

Paul just chuckled. "Wow, kid…you really are a fool. You see a disgusting, accursed Scelestus like me…and you want to ask him questions? What if I were a mind mage, kid? I could take over your mind right now and force you to kill yourself."

I gulped. "I don't know what a mind mage is…nor do I know what a…Seelstus is—"

"Scelestus." Paul corrected me.

"Scelestus. Look…I just want to know what's going on." I said.

Paul was silent for a moment, but then he began speaking. "Looks like the Diamond Orders hadn't found you, then…well, you're a mage. A witch. A wizard. Whatever you want to call it, that's what you are."

"Okaaay…." I replied.

"And you in particular? You're lucky as hell. An Acanthus mage…an Enchanter on the Path of Thistle, Scion of the Watchtower of the Lunargent Thorn in the Realm of Arcadia, Kingdom of Enchantment and Abode of the Fae."

Okay…well, I certainly didn't understand a word he was saying. "Uh…huh?"

Paul chuckled darkly. "You don't understand…but you will soon. Sooner than you think…sooner than you hope. You may know my True Name…you may be able to finish me off easily, but we know where you live now. We have spies in the shadows…and we know exactly when your parents are coming back."

"Wait.." My voice now had a worried tone to it. "What about my parents? What do you mean, 'we'? What are you going to do?"

"As soon as you leave this room…they'll have been at your house. I gave my apprentices a lot of time, you see…after all, I changed the flow of time within this little room. A few minutes in here…two hours out there." Paul said, ignoring my question.

"Your apprentices? What? No...they're not going to do anything to my parents!" I stood up and began walking towards the door.

"Then hurry, young initiate!" Paul called out. "They might already. Be. There."

A shiver crawled up my spine as I left the door, noticing that things weren't the same as when I went in a few minutes ago. Different nurses were in their positions now, and there weren't nearly as many people in the waiting room now. I felt something in the pit of my stomach…a pain. It was fear.

I took off towards the elevator and went to the lobby, and then I ran out of the hospital all the way home.

I didn't talk, didn't think on my way back home. I simply ran and panted, not stopping even though I got tired. I ran into many people, but I kept going. Something that Paul said…it worried me to death. As I turned the corner to my house, I saw…

My house was on fire. Three guys around my age shot flames out of their fingertips, making the house slowly crumble at its foundations. In the front, there were two more guys behind…my parents. My mother and father's hands were tied behind their backs, and a gun was pointed at their heads. I could see my mother crying, and my father was helpless.

"MOM! DAD!" I called out, but it was too late.

_BOOM!_

My parents dropped on the ground, blood leaking out of their foreheads and the back of their heads. My house just about crumbled down. I was too far away…too late to stop them. I saw the guys smirk at each other then slide the car keys out of my father's pocket, unlocking his car and stealing it to get away from the scene. I then heard the sirens of the fire trucks and the police coming towards the scene. They were too late too.

Devastated and scared, I turned around and took off for Starbucks.

* * *

My eyes were apparently filled with tears, because people asked me what was wrong once I got into the café. I simply walked through them and sat down at a table in the far corner, not paying attention to anybody. Who would I be able to tell about this? I'd just witnessed three guys shooting fire out of their hands, and another two guys kill my parents. The most I'd get is "call the cops".

I saw Alexandria walk into the shop, apparently ready to work. Her adorable smile was wiped off of her face as soon as she saw me. She quickly sat next to me and patted my back, her blue-green eyes studying my disturbed expression.

"Mason…" She began. "What happened?"

I could tell her. She was the one that told me my luck was supernatural. Maybe she knew about this whole mage thing? Maybe she'd be able to tell me what a Scelestus was?

"These guys…" I began, sniffling in between just about every word. "They killed my parents…burned down my house with…w-with fire that came out of their hands."

Alexandria's worried expression turned into a grim one. A shadow passed over her face, but she didn't say anything. She simply took my hand, stood up, and pulled me towards the exit of the café.

"A-Alexandria? Where…where are we going?" I asked.

"Pentacle Academy." Alexandria replied. "We're going to the Free Council."


	4. Chapter 4 - Pentacle Academy

Alexandria pulled me into her truck and began driving off. First of all, for such a small girl, she had a pretty big truck. Second of all, the truck was extremely nice, so that was a dead giveaway that she was rich. Why hadn't her truck been stolen, you might ask? Hell if I knew.

Alexandria drove really fast and definitely over the speed limit. I guess the fact that so many cars were rushing towards the sight of my house burning down meant they had more urgent things to worry about than a teenage girl speeding. Her radio was off, filling the car with an eerie silence. I'd just finished crying, so I didn't want to say anything. Hell, if I thought about it, I might've started crying again. Alexandria's facial expression was completely serious.

"So," Alexandria began. "you went to the hospital to visit a Scelestus. What did he tell you?"

For a second, I was a little freaked out. I mean, last time someone knew something they shouldn't, my house was burned down and my parents were killed. "H-How did you know I went to the hospital…? What, do you have spies too?"

Alexandria rolled her eyes. "No, genius. I'm a good guy, trust me. Now, what did he tell you?"

I told her about my whole trip, that he told me I was an Enchanter on the Path of Thistle. I then told her about how he said, "We have spies". At that moment, Alexandria pulled over and started looking around.

"Alexandria? What are—"

"SHH!" Alexandria interrupted me. "They might be after us right now… Listen."

Nothing. I didn't hear anything around the car, nor did I see anything. But if magi truly existed, then I guess there would be no reason for them to be unable to become invisible and conceal themselves. However, Alexandria kept driving. I took that as confirmation that we weren't being followed.

"Now – that mage stuff? That's actually true. You are an Enchanter on the Path of Thistle." Alexandria said after a short period of silence. "And that guy…he was a Scelestus. An abyssal cultist."

Now I didn't understand what _she_ was saying. "Abyssal cultist?"

"Worshippers of the abyss. They uh…the Abyss is hard to explain. It's the space between here and the Supernal World. Think of it as a gigantic mass of darkness and unreality." Alexandria explained.

"The Supernal World? I don't understand…"

"You'll learn more where we're going."

Alexandria eventually turned into a long road that was completely cleared of trees. That's all I saw at first…just a road. Then I heard Alexandria mutter something in a language that I didn't recognize. It didn't sound like anything I've heard before…just gibberish without a similar sound to any language. Her mutter was long, but once she was finished, the area changed dramatically. At the horizon, flat land and road popped up and became a rather large building. The long road popped out of the ground, becoming a hill.

It was an academy…and we were just about to park in its parking lot.

"How the—"

"An unveiling spell." Alexandria said. "I'm a mage too, you know."

Well, I guess that was sort of predictable. After all, she did seem to know about this from the get-go. She even told me that my luck was supernatural. Was she an Enchanter too? Or maybe she was some other type of mage? Maybe she was…after all, I couldn't do the unveiling spell like her.

"Now, I was planning to show you all this and recruit you later today, buut…" She opened the car door and got out. I did the same. "..Looks like things happened sooner than planned. But don't worry! It's not inconvenient at all."

"What is this place…?" I asked, my voice a little low from crying.

"You'll see."

"Alex – my parents just died…okay? Right in front of my eyes. And my house is gone. No secrets…please?" I pleaded with her.

Alexandria stopped for a moment, studying my expression. She then sighed and nodded. "Okay…this is Pentacle Academy. It's sort of a new idea that mages are using now…instead of initiates having to look around for a master, we can just take them here so they can collectively learn magic. It was the Free Council's idea."

I simply nodded. "What's the Free Council?"

I saw a faint glimmer in Alexandria's eye, as if she was happy that I'd asked.

"The Free Council is a democratic, free order for mages like me. Mages that are modern, and don't hold on to tradition." Alexandria began walking towards the academy and I followed.

"So, they're basically like…the Anonymous of the mage world?" I asked.

"Exactly! Other orders are…dominating. The Silver Ladder thinks they can control us. The Guardians of the Veil want to keep magic away from the masses. The Mysterium is too...old fashioned. And the Adamantine Arrow is too warlike. No, we at the Free Council encourage the modernization of magic."

I thought about that for a while. Although I didn't know about any of the other orders, the Free Council seemed…right. They wanted to modernize magic. What else is there to do with something like that? Use old customs? Wear robes and pointy hats, smiting all that come towards our tower? It sounded ridiculous.

"Modernization of magic, eh…?" I asked.

"Yeah. You interested?" Alexandria asked, a hopeful tone to her voice.

"I guess so…but before I make any really big decisions, I'm going to need to see what other groups there are out there. This…Silver Ladder? Myserium? I want to see them all."

Alexandria nodded understandingly. Although she was quite a big fan of the Free Council, as I could tell, it was pretty cool of her to let me choose instead of shoving her mage group down my throat. Once we reached campus, I could already tell how lively the place was. Students scurried all around the school, reaching their destinations. They all appeared to be my age or at least a little older…like early twenties or something.

Alexandria stopped me in front of four large posts that were spaced yet stood next to each other. Each post was made of stone, but they all had different symbols on them. They stood in order from left to right: Silver Ladder, Adamantine Arrow, Guardians of the Veil, Mysterium, and Free Council.

"Alright…this'll be an easier way to explain the five orders to you." Alexandria cleared her throat and walked over next to the Silver Ladder post.

"The Silver Ladder back in old times were the advisers of Atlantis. They helped the princes in matters concerning politics. Now in modern times…they're often the leaders of the consilium. They want to create a world where every human being is a mage…the catch is that they want to be on top."

"Wow…that seems kinda...I dunno. Dictating." I noted.

"Some of them are nice…but I just don't like their philosophy." Alexandria admitted.

She then walked to the next post. "The Adamantine Arrow. The loyal guardians of consiliums, claws of the dragon. They're our soldiers. The Adamantine Arrow protected Atlantis in old times, and now they protect consiliums around the world. They're honorable and militant…and if they say they're going to do something, they'll do it."

Well, that seemed honorable. "That's pretty cool…"

"Yeah! A member of our cabal is part of the Adamantine Arrow."

I arched a brow. "Cabal…?"

"A group of magi. But anyway…" She stepped to the next post. "The Guardians of the Veil are the secret police. They have a little ritual they call the Labyrinth…which is basically this web of lies that keeps humans ignorant about magic."

"They keep the knowledge of magic away from people? Why?"

"Well.." Alexandria began. "Remember I told you about the Abyss? That large gulf that separates this world from the Supernal World?"

I still didn't know what the Supernal World was, but I merely nodded.

"Every time a mage tells a mortal – we call them sleepers – about magic, the Abyss widens. Magic gets weaker."

Well, that was certainly a bummer. "So, wait…doesn't that mean the Free Council is making magic weaker? They're trying to awaken humanity to magic, right?"

"Right…but we're doing it in the subtlest ways possible. Y'know, graffiti, glamourbombing, things like that."

And then, Alexandria moved to the next post.

"The Mysterium are our artifact keepers. They're sort of like…adventure archaeologists."

"Like Indiana Jones?" I commented.

"Like Indiana Jones. If you're ever looking for a magical artifact or something of that nature, go to one of their museums. They have them all over the consilium."

And finally, she stepped to the final pillar. The Free Council one.

"And finally…the Free Council. We're actually the newest order. It was after a war way back a long time ago, but we became an order back in the 1900's." Alexandria explained. "So…which one do you want to pick? You could pick neither, of course, but if you want support…it's best to pick one."

Each of these orders had advantages and disadvantages, but I thought about where I belonged in the big picture. The Adamantine Arrow seemed to be the best for fighting…and if I learned how to fight, I'd be able to take revenge on those damn cultists. But they seemed boring and strict. The Free Council seemed like the best choice then…I just hoped that I'd be able to take my revenge on the cultists.

"Alright…" I said. "Free Council it is." 

* * *

Alexandria took me into a gigantic hall that was abound with magi. They all rushed around, reminding me of the hustle of the streets of New York. They all spoke to each other in small groups on the way. One thing I noticed about the students is that they had a uniform. Each of them wore a blue-and-green sweater vest, but the rest of the clothes varied. Some wore khakis, some wore jeans.

I had to weave through the crowd as Alexandria led me…somewhere. She took me to this large room that wasn't as full of students as everywhere else. The whole room appeared to be made of stone, which, of course, meant it was freezing. The room had one single window for sunlight to come through. Ahead, I could see a long table with five people sitting in the back. Behind them was a large, pearly white door that looked important. It's large size and general shiny appearance made me want to open it to see what was at the other side. The five people behind the table appeared to be bored…just sitting there and doing nothing. They each looked different and were dressed differently.

Alexandria and I walked towards a tall, handsome type of guy with chiseled features, a strong chin, and black hair. He kind of looked like Batman. His hair was tousled across his forehead, and his eyes were blue. He had a five o'clock shadow, making him look a bit like a hardened detective. Basically, he looked like one of those awesome antihero types I'd always read about in 1990 comics.

"Raguel? How's daddy?" Alexandria addressed him.

The guy, apparently Raguel, looked up at Alexandria and met her with an award-winning smile. "Busy. But he's doing well. Why are you here so early? Don't you have work?"

Alexandria then gestured towards me. "We have an initiate. Brand new – just awakened…two days ago, I believe. He says he wants to join the Free Council."

Raguel looked up at me and smiled, standing up to look me in the eye. Much to my dismay, I had to look up to maintain eye contact. "Really, kid? Are you ready to join the fight against Tyranny? To awaken the masses to magic?"

I timidly nodded. Hey, my parents died literally minutes ago. This was all going so fast…but I knew I was on the right path.

"Good! Alexandria, have you filled him in on everything? The five paths, shadow names?" Raguel asked, turning his head back to Alexandria. She shook her head.

"Not yet. I was planning to get to that after this, but you can tell him if you want to."

Raguel turned to the people sitting next to him and nodded. They nodded back in respect, and then he walked off with Alexandria and I. We took a tour of the school. Raguel showed me the museums and classes that were inside…but frankly, I didn't know why. I said I was going to join the order, not attend the school. I didn't have time for that.

"So," Raguel began. "There are five paths in mage-hood. Five realms in the Supernal – that's the world of magic from where we get our power – that we awaken to. There are the Theurgists on the Path of the Mighty, Obrimos. There are the Shamans on the Path of Ecstasy, Thyrsus. There are the Necromancers on the Path of Doom, Moros. Then there are the Warlocks on the path of Scourging, Mastigos…and the Enchanters on the Path of Thistle, Acanthus."

"Wait…so I'm an Acanthus mage." I commented.

Alexandria nodded. "Raguel and I are obrimos mages. We're kinda the most…flashy of the paths."

"True." Raguel said. "Obrimos mages such as us can manipulate the two Arcanum Prime and Forces. Enchanters like you can manipulate Fate and Time. Necromancers manipulate Death and Matter. Shamans manipulate Life and Spirit. And Warlocks manipulate Space and Mind."

"Woah…so I can manipulate Time and Fate?" I asked.

Raguel nodded. "It manifests as luck. You always know what to say and when to say it; things seem to happen to you at the most convenient times."

It was surprising how accurate was. Ever since I went to that strange realm at my doorstep…ever since I went to Westhaven Street, convenient things have been happening to me. "So…what? I can stop time and stuff?"

"At high levels, yeah." Alexandria replied. "Right now, it's just luck. But you're going to learn that you can not only stop time…but make it repeat. You can also manipulate fate. Force oaths and things of that nature."

That reminded me of the weight that words had back in that realm. Back when I was there, I simply said hell and the landscape became as mentioned. "Cool…" I said to myself.

"Certainly." Raguel agreed.

"What was that place? When I started getting my powers…? It was weird and…ever changing. The weather ravaged the place, but things kept getting rebuilt." I asked out of sheer curiosity.

Raguel and Alexandria glanced at each other, and then looked back at me.

"It was Arcadia." Raguel replied. "Kingdom of Enchantment and abode of the Fae."

Alexandria nodded in agreement. "We all go somewhere called a Supernal Realm when we awaken. Mastigos mages go to Pandemonium, Thyrsus mages go to the Primal Wild, Moros mages go to Stygia, and us Obrimos mages go to the Aether."

"And Acanthus mages go to Arcadia. Hey…what was that you said earlier, Raguel? A 'shadow name'?"

Alexandria was about to speak up, but Raguel beat her to the punch. "If you know a mage's true name, it's easier to work magic against them – it's called sympathetic magic. A shadow name is sort of…a shield against that. My shadow name is Raguel and this girl over here's shadow name is Alexandria."

I stopped for a second. "Hold up…Alexandria isn't your real name? And I told you my true name, too! Why didn't you—"

"It was a precaution." Alexandria explained. "But I promise that I hadn't used any spells against you. I really am the good guy – as is everyone here. And I hadn't told anyone your true name either. I swear."

"Now here's the time for you to come up with a true name for yourself. Try to come up with something that'll fit you…your life experiences and all." Raguel advised.

Something that would fit me….that would certainly be a tough one. After all, my parents were killed and my house was burned down…I couldn't think of a name that would encompass all of that. But then I thought about Arcadia…thought about my powers. I obtained my knowledge of magic from the abode of the Fae…and I got luck and time powers out of it. I decided to go for something Elven…I decided to give myself the name of my first D&D character.

"…Edwindir." I said. "Just call me…call me Edwindir."

Yeah, that should fit. I remember basing Edwindir off of myself – he and I were essentially the same person. I had used him in so many games…I was with him every step of the way as we slew demilitches, dragons, and powerful wizards.

"Edwindir…" Alexandria giggled a little. "Sounds a little…flowery, doesn't it?"

"It's Elven. Of course it's flowery." I replied.

She shrugged. Raguel, Alexandria, and I kept walking until we reached where the stone pillars where again.

"So…Alexandria will lead you to the dorms…well, after you join a cabal, that is—"

"Wait…dorms? Who said I was enrolling?" I replied. Raguel arched an eyebrow.

"Well…enrolling is the best way—"

"I want revenge, Raguel. My house was burned down and my parents were killed by Abyssal Cultists. I don't have time for school…I mean, it's a nice offer and all…but I need to kill the fuckers responsible for my parent's death."

Leaving it at that, I turned around and began walking off. I don't know what I was thinking…I didn't have a way home nor a place to sleep. I didn't even have the money for a hotel.

"Wait!" Alexandria said. "If you fight them now, lucky or not, you're going to die. Plain and simple. You're a weak mage. You have an extremely limited understanding on how magic works. If you stay here, we can teach you how to use it properly. We can teach you how to fight."

That stopped me in my tracks. Whether I liked it or not, I had absolutely no experience going against something like magic. Not only that, but I didn't even have enough combat experience to win against a school bully without dumb luck.

"…Okay…you teach me, and then I get revenge. I don't want to get involved in any other matters." I stated carefully and clearly.

Raguel nodded. "Understandable and respectable."

Alexandria walked to me, putting a soft hand on my shoulder. "I know it's hard…trust me, I know what it's like to lose someone. But…come on. We'll just get you into a dorm and a cabal…alright?"

I sighed, turning around to face her and nodded. "Alright."

Now, given the requirements of joining a cabal, and Alexandria knowing my first name, I was unable to join any cabal but hers. It's not that I minded, really…she was a familiar face…and a nice one at that. I simply followed her to her cabal's dorm, which was a rather big house-looking building with a plaque above the door that read, "Virtus Draconis".

"Virtus Draconis…" I said as we stepped up into the porch. "Is that some kind of motto?"

Alexandria shook her head, placing her hand on the doorknob. "Virtus Draconis means 'Virtue of the Dragon'. It's the name of our cabal."

When Alexandria opened the front door, I was met with the smell of delicious barbecue and the calm techno music. The place had a pretty nice layout. Ahead, I could see stairs leading upstairs – and whoever was up there appeared to be making quite the ruckus. In the living room, there was a flat screen TV attached to the wall and leather couches in front of it in a half circle, and a coffee table was in the middle. Behind the couch was a wooden kitchen table, and to the left of said table was a kitchen. To the right of the living room were the men and women's bathrooms.

"EVERYBODY, CABAL-MEETING." Alexandria called out. Immediately, I was met with three other people and each one eyed me up and down with varying expressions. The first one was a rather short guy – 5'9 to my 6'1 – with olive colored skin, green eyes, and messy hair. He was pretty muscular though, although he didn't seem like the type of guy that fought too much. He was in the kitchen before he was in line with everyone else.

The next guy was as tall as me but he was eerily skinny. He had black sideburns that went down to his cheeks, and his hair was in a spiky mess. His eyes were blue, and his hair was black. His skin was paler than Jessica's, which basically made him look like a ghost. His eyes were wide and disturbing…he wasn't the type that'd look scary because he was tall and muscular. No…he looked scary because he looked like the type that'd tear someone apart at any second.

The next guy looked much older. He had strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. He was as tall as me, but he was muscular also – I was pretty jealous. He had a permanent-looking serious expression on his face that added to this sort of "bad boy" air to him. He also had a broadsword sheathed to his side, so that was the most epic thing ever.

"This is Edwindir. He wants to join the cabal." Alexandria explained.

The green-eyed guy perked up. "Thyrsus? Dude, please be Thyrsus. You're Thyrsus, right?"

Alexandria shook her head. "Acanthus."

Everyone except for Alexandria groaned in unison.

_Well then. Rude._ I thought.

"Hey guys, cheer up! We don't have an Acanthus mage in our cabal. Now we do. There's strength in numbers, y'know." Alexandria said.

"Yeah, but…he's an _Acanthus_. Can we at least get someone that's going to do something?" The dark haired dude said.

"Hey! Not all Acanthus are lazy, y'know. My father isn't." Alexandria chided.

The dark haired dude shrugged. "Fine. So, we have to tell him our shadow names and our true names, right?"

Alexandria nodded. "Yeah."

"Wait." The older looking dude spoke up. "Don't we vote on things like this? Whether somebody joins the cabal? I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I want an Acanthus mage joining our cabal."

Alexandria sighed. "Desmond, I…okay, you have a point. Who wants Edwindir to join?"

Nobody raised their hand. They all just looked at each other, murmuring among one another. That made me feel warm inside.

"Perhaps I should word this differently: who doesn't care?"

Everybody but Desmond raised their hand.

"All opposed?"

And that's where Desmond raised his hand.

"Overruled. Okay, Edwindir is joining."

Desmond sighed. I didn't get what his problem with me was. If Acanthus mages really had that bad of a reputation, I was wondering what other Acanthus mages like me did. Did we play cruel tricks on people? Were we truly known for being lazy? I mean, sure, I had my lazy moments, but I believed that everyone did eventually.

"Now…I'll begin with the ceremonial exchange of true names." Alexandria turned to me. "My true name is Jessica Cavers. But my shadow name is Alexandria. I am an Obrimos mage, a Theurgist on the path of the Mighty."

The green eyed guy stepped forward. When he began speaking, I noticed his Italian-American accent. I could already tell that this guy was an okay guy. "I'm Jimmy Faenza. But my shadow name is Terra. I'm a Thysus mage, a Shaman on the path of Ecstasy."

Then the tall, dark guy stepped forward. Although he scared me, he didn't seem that bad. I didn't sense any hostility coming from him, so he was good. "I'm Curtis Manson. But my shadow name is Gyrathgar. I am a Moros mage, a Necromancer on the path of Doom."

The older looking guy then stepped forward. I definitely sensed hostility coming from him, although I didn't understand why. I didn't offend him to my knowledge or anything. "My name is Lukas Smith. But my shadow name is Desmond. I am a Mastigos mage, a Warlock on the path of Scourging. And fuck up once – I'll destroy you. Got that, Acanthus?"

I quickly nodded. This guy was much bigger than me, so I definitely wouldn't be able to fight him. He then walked out of the scene, bumping me on the shoulder on his way upstairs.

It was my turn to say my true name and my shadow name. I was a little hesitant…after all, if what Alexandria – Jessica, as her true name was– said was true, then any one of them would be able to easily fry me with a spell. The concept was trust, however. We were supposed to be allied mages…and for that to happen there had to be trust.

"My name is Mason Schneider. I'm…a new guy, okay? I know I'm an Acanthus mage and all, but…whatever we're known for, I'm going to break that stereotype and do the best that I can. My shadow name is Edwindir, and I'm an Enchanter on the path of Thistle. I trust you guys…and I look forward to your support."

After everyone was introduced and everything, Jessica took me upstairs to see my room. I appeared to have a room right next to Lukas….lucky me. She handed me the key to my room and showed me the inside. It was a basic, small-sized room with a bed at the far end and a window at the end of it. The left had an empty book shelf, and near the door was a sink and mirror for me to wash my face with.

"This is your new room. What do you think?" Jessica asked.

"It's...it's great. Thanks." I replied.

"No problem. Any questions before I leave, Mason?"

Oh, I had plenty of questions. "Well, first of all…can you give me more information about the Scelestus?"

Jessica's expression darkened. "The plural word for Scelestus is Scelesti. The Scelesti are mages that have decided to worship the Abyss…and to join, instead of awakening to magic like us, they undergo…degrading and contradictory trials that betray their sense of self. They want to completely remove themselves from reality. They want to destroy it."

That sent a chill up my spine. The fact that the Scelesti want to destroy reality and remove themselves from it was scary. I knew that magic was powerful, but was that truly possible? Was it truly possible to remove yourself from reality by simple will? It made me think of the potential of magic…the possibilities.

"So…why did they hate Acanthus mages?" I asked. Jessica's expression lightened just a little.

"Well…Acanthus mages are known to be lazy and unreliable. They rely on dumb luck to help them on missions. It's perfectly understandable, given their powers, but…they just don't rub off the right way to everyone. Don't take it personal." She replied.

"I won't. Hey…how long have you been a mage, anyway? And…your father is an Acanthus mage?"

She nodded. "Yeah, he is…which is how I know the stereotype isn't true. He's a high-ranking member of the Free Council. I've been a mage ever since I was…fifteen. Man…it takes a lifetime to understand. Even with the training I've been under, I can only understand a little about the Prime, Forces, and Mind Arcanum."

"Woah," I began. "people can learn more than the two Arcanum they have?"

Jessica nodded. "If it's your inferior Arcanum – like yours would be…forces, I think – then it's more difficult to learn it. I never even touched a grimoire on the Death Arcanum."

I was glad I knew that now. I sat down on my new bed, and Jessica sat next to me. I thought for a second about what I had back at my old house…a TV, parents, food…sure, those things were in the dorm, but there was no place like home. My parents died while they were mad at me, and I hated myself for it. I never should've gotten into that stupid fight at school, never should've said those things to the principal….I never should've snuck out to Westhaven.

"If it makes you feel any better…" Jessica began as if reading my mind. "When a mage starts to awaken, an incurable sense of curiosity sparks within him. He gets strong urges to investigate things. Your parents deaths aren't your fault…they are the Scelesti's fault. You'll get your revenge…don't worry."

That made me smile a little. Jessica seemed to know exactly what to say to cheer me up. No matter what, she'd always be a friend to me. I felt confident that she'd be with me through thick and thin…after all, she did take me to this place. She was generous enough not to cast some crazy spell on me, and to take me into her cabal.

"Yeah…I will. But until then, I'm a loyal member of your cabal." I said.

Jessica nodded and stood up, walking to my door. "Well, I'll let you get all situated. As for extra clothes, there'll always be some suiting your taste in the drawer. It's one of Curtis's enchantments. And remember – always refer to us by our shadow names when we're outside of this dormitory, got it?"

I nodded. "Got it."

"Lunch will be ready in a little while."

It was only a few minutes into my being in the room that I realized how exhausted and hungry I was. My parents died, my house was burned down, and I cried probably gallons before coming to Pentacle Academy. That's when I went downstairs to hover like I usually did when I smelled something good cooking and I was hungry, and much to my luck the food was already done. All of my other cabal-mates sat around the table, and I just took a seat where nobody else was sitting. It was in between Curtis and Lukas.

Jimmy placed plates around the table, one for each cabal member, then bought a rather large plate full of barbecue chicken, croissants, and Caesar salad. The smell of the food filled my nose and made my mouth water. Everybody conversed as they took some of the plentiful food for themselves and placed it on their plates. I did the same thing.

"So, Curtis, how did that artifact hunt last night go?" Lukas turned his attention to Curtis, who was stuffing his face with croissants. He swallowed before answering.

"Well, first of all…it was guarded by werewolves. Can you believe that? We tried to sneak past them, but a fight was inevitable. Thankfully, we had a second-degree master with us." He replied. I swallowed my food before asking a question.

"Werewolves? Those exist too?"

"Well, yeah." Jimmy answered. "And vampires, changelings, demons, and homunculi."

I arched a brow. "Weird…so basically every monster?"

"Basically every monster. Man, educating new mages is pretty fun." Curtis said, a small smirk on his lips.

"So, wait…you went full on combat with these werewolves? Or did you have the type of master with you that could do the whole, 'handwave and they're gone' type of thing?" Desmond asked.

"It was the latter. The fight was pretty intense until the guy made a small hurricane. Needless to say, the hunt was a success. More we can use against the Seers." Curtis replied.

"Seers?" I asked. It was surprising that nobody was getting annoyed by my questions. I know I'd slap a kid silly if he asked me questions every time I said something I didn't know. I guess it was because these guys were in my position before.

"The Seers of the Throne." Jessica replied. "They uh…worship the Exarchs."

"And before you ask," Lukas began. "The Exarchs are tyrannical mage-gods that rule the world. They're in the Supernal, and they're more powerful than anyone or anything can imagine."

"Woah…how did they become gods?" I asked.

"It's a long, drawn out story." Jimmy replied. "You'll learn it in class."

Silence filled the room for a little while as everybody ate. As hungry as I was, I downed my plates in record time. Who knew that watching your house get burned down, witnessing the death of your parents, and getting introduced to the mage world would get you so hungry? The silence was interrupted once Lukas spoke up.

"Did anybody tell uh…Mason here about what's going on in the consilium at the moment?"

Everybody looked at Jessica.

"What? Oh! Right, so, Mason…the consilium is currently in war with a large amount of Seer pylons – pylons are basically their cabals. Everyone that is getting recruited to the Free Council is currently being bounced to a Minuteman, who are basically our soldiers. So if the classes focus on combat training a lot, that's why."

I stopped eating for a second. "Wait…a war? Who said anything about a war? I just want to learn how to fight these Scelesti guys, kill them, and then go on with my life."

Lukas slammed his hands against the table. Everyone went silent. "So, what? You're only going to devote yourself to the Pentacle – to _us_ partially?!"

"Luke—"

"No, Jessica!" Lukas stood up, and then he used one arm to pull my chair back. His large amount of strength already told me I shouldn't fuck with him. Once my chair was away from the table, Lukas stood right in front of me, bending over so that we were making close eye contact. "What? So you're going to use your gift for something like revenge?! Reality is a _lie_, Mason. The world is ruled by godly assholes who laugh at our every day problem, mock us from their high fucking thrones, and _you're _just thinking about revenge?! Who the fuck do you think you are? Do you think you're the only one who's parents died in the struggle against the Scelesti? Do you think that killing them will solve anything? If so, then you are _not worth this cabal's time_. If revenge is the only thing you're interested in, then get out. We don't need anyone with that type of mindset around here."

Everyone's mouth hung agape, but Jessica didn't really seem surprised. I looked into Lukas's angry, blue eyes. They were as clear as day, but wrathful as a clouding sky. I knew that he was serious by the way he carried himself. I didn't understand what his problem with me was, but I sensed through behind his cruel words. The consilium was at war…and it was pretty selfish of me to just think about revenge. Even if I didn't care about anyone else in the consilium, my cabal was at least a nice bunch.

"…Okay. Your war…I'll fight in it. Not that I really have a choice since I already joined the Free Council, but…" I sighed. "These Seer pylons…I'll fight them. No problem, right…?" 

* * *

The alarm woke me up early in the morning the next day. It's not that I had a problem getting up…I could barely sleep because of the nightmares. Every time I'd close my eyes and drift to sleep, I'd be awakened by the smell of burning wood and the sound of fire and gunshots. I'd dart up from my bed to realize…it was all just a dream.

By the time my new alarm blared through the room, I could already hear the sound of my other cabal-mates getting ready for class. It was strange…getting up in a new room in a new place, but the place itself was pretty inviting, so I suspected I wouldn't have that hard of a time accepting it as home. Well, once I got over my house getting burned down, of course. I had to admit, though, the place had everything. My bed was even soft and my window had a nice view of the city beyond the woodsy hills.

But now wasn't the time to enjoy the morning scenery. I got dressed quickly so I wouldn't keep my cabal-mates waiting. Seeing that a light sheen of frost covered the woodsy hills, I already knew that it was finally going to start snowing. I actually almost smiled – first time in…twenty-four hours. I did like the snow; I just didn't like the cold. That being said, I went out in like…four layers of clothes; one leather brown duster coat, a hoodie under that, a long-sleeved shirt under that, and finally a short sleeved shirt under that.

Once I was dressed, I brushed my teeth and washed my face. After that, I opened the door and made my way downstairs. By the time I was down, everybody was dressed and ready. In fact, it seemed like they were waiting for me. I kind of felt a bit of guilt…I guess I was kind of slow getting ready. After all, I wasn't used to people waiting for me, being an only child and all.

"Well! Now that we're all here, I just want to remind you all to call each other – me included, of course – by our shadow names." Jessica told everyone. Due to it being early, everyone including me wasn't very energetic, so we all just sluggishly nodded. I could already see that Jessica was the one that really running the cabal – the Virtus Draconis. Lukas seemed to be the muscle, Jimmy seemed to be the heart, and Curtis seemed to be the smart guy. Although this was what I gathered from just a day with them, I had to figure out where I'd fit in the equation. I was determined to shed the stereotype of Acanthus mages being lazy…so I had to find some way to be useful.

We walked around campus together. The way the schedule system went was that they taught us all as a cabal, not individually. There were those who wanted to stand alone, who didn't want to join a cabal, so they were just given individual masters. I could tell that basically every mage in the state was in this school, because it was packed. Yet somehow…it never seemed to get overcrowded. There was never too little space in a hallway, never too many cabals in one room. It was probably the doing of some powerful magic spell that was beyond my human capacity to understand, so I simply dismissed it.

The first class we had was Arcane Studies and Spellcasting. The teacher stood in the middle of the room in the same blue and green sweater vest that everybody wore, except he wore a long coat over it. I don't know why he did; it was very hot in the room. Maybe he wanted to keep up some Harry Potter-esque look? Either way, he greeted the Virtus Draconis and the five other cabals that came in. We were all sat down at round tables that were in a half-circle around the chalkboard.

The teacher was a pretty sharp-looking guy. His black hair was combed over and he had the perfect amount of stubble. He had green eyes but this weird smirk that told you he was planning something. He looked like one of those guys that were planning world domination or something. It seemed weird that the school would hire someone so sociopathic-looking, but I definitely wasn't the guy to go to for suggestions on which mage to hire.

"Students, students..." The teacher spoke up, quieting down the murmurs of the other cabals in the class. "As you all know, I am Murlok, the Arcane Studies teacher."

I saw Jessica raise her hand, but Marlok waved his hand downwards as if to dismiss her. "New student, I know. Why did you raise your hand? I always know. Now, will this new student come up to the front and introduce himself?"

_What is this? Preschool?_ I thought to myself. Everybody already had their eyes on me, so I just walked to the center of the class where they'd be able to see me better. I felt a little nervous for some reason. After all, these guys were mages. They could probably fry me with their minds if they wanted to. But then I reminded myself that they were learning like me.

_No need to be intimidated._ I told myself in my head. _They're students like you. So what you're an Acanthus mage? Just…introduce yourself._

"Well? We don't have all day, initiate." Marlok's voice snapped me back into reality. It was then that I realized that I stood there in silence for a couple of seconds, so I spoke up.

"Uh…I'm…I'm Edwindir – that's my shadow name, of course, and…" I huffed. No, I wasn't going to be awkward this time. "…I'm an Acanthus mage, okay? And no, I'm not lazy. I have my moments, but we all do, right? Thing is, I'm going to shed that stereotype. If there's such a thing, I will be the greatest mage out of all of you."

There was nothing but silence…then a few giggles from the other cabals. I could see Curtis and Jessica slap their faces to their foreheads in unison. Just as I thought…nobody took me seriously. To be fair, I guessed I looked like a naïve initiate who thought he was the shit. I was serious about shedding the stereotype though. And if it required me to do something massively epic and unforgettable, then so be it.

"…Alright, that was rather interesting. " As soon as Marlok said that, most of the classroom began laughing. "Well, Edwindir, come with me. We're going to get you your books."

As small as the room was, it turned out to be much bigger. Marlok opened a door to reveal a huge hall, each wall lined with bookshelves. The room alone had to have hundreds of books on one shelf alone. Marlok stared at me quizzically, which was when I realized my mouth was hanging agape.

"You must be very new to magic then. Have you ever formally cast a spell?" He asked, pulling a rolling ladder up against the bookshelf so that he could reach a high book.

"Well…no." I admitted. "But weird things have happened. Good luck and all."

"Yes, yes, that's typical to an Acanthus mage such as yourself. However, simple luck isn't going to get you through this war, and it certainly isn't impressive enough to battle another mage. What you need is spell control and actual knowledge of your capabilities." Marlok took a book from a higher shelf, handing it to me. The book was titled "_High Speech for Dummies"._

Marlok then moved the ladder towards the left of the bookshelf, searching for something else now.

"High Speech? What's that?" I asked him after reading the cover of the book.

"It's the language of Atlantis – if, of course, Atlantis truly existed. When the ancient city supposedly fell, it's language came with it. High Speech is removed from reality metaphysically, so it is practically impossible to speak conversationally. Incantations however…" I could see Marlok smirk.

"So…basically they're magic words?" I asked.

"Yes, basically. We use high speech to strengthen our spell. Usually, our mind would simply do, but when we want to add extra kick to our imago – the effect of our spell – then we describe it in High Speech. And for extra, extra kick…"

Marlok came down yet again from the ladder, handing me an even bigger book. The sheer thickness of the plain black book made me groan. I thought this was Arcane Studies, not Bible Study. I read the cover of the book and it said, "_Atlantean Runes: How to draw, how to pronounce, and how to understand."_

"Atlantean Runes?" I asked.

Marlok nodded. "If you use Atlantean Runes, High Speech, and your imago in a spell, then you're in for one powerful, effective spell."

I had a small idea of how magic worked now, and I was happy for that. Describing a spell in High Speech – how hard could that be? And the Atlantean Runes shouldn't be difficult once I learn how to draw them. It seemed that magic was going to be easy for me.

"Cool…how do I know…what I can do?" I asked. Murlok then pointed to another book shelf.

"All of the Arcanum books are right there. It's the complete edition, so there'll be no need to purchase one for each level. And, since you don't know, there are ten Arcana; Fate, Time, Life, Spirit, Death, Matter, Prime, Forces, Mind, and Space. Being a Mastigos mage, I have inherent powers over Mind and Space. You, being Acanthus, have powers over Fate and Time. However, this does not mean you are restricted to just those two Arcanum. Indeed, a mage may learn any Arcanum, however, one Arcanum might be more difficult to learn than another." Murlok explained. "Overall, just choose any you want. I advise you to stick with a minimum of five, however. And remember to pick ones that will be of use to you. We _are_ in a war, Edwindir."

Murlok left the room to leave me to my decisions. I was horrible with decisions, by the way. If there was one thing that would be the death of me, it would be my inability to make decisions. So as I skimmed the books that had the respective Arcanum they taught titled on the spine of the book, I was having a hard time thinking about which Arcanum I'd choose.

_Matter. What would I use matter for? Do life spells also include healing spells? Mind spells…I could read someone's mind?! Sweet! Wait, wait…what if I read things I didn't want to read?_ Millions of questions went through my head, but I finally decided after like…a billion years.

I took out the books of Fate and Time, of course. Then I took out the books for Space, Life, and Death. Those seemed like they would be useful in a war. I checked the back of the books and they had nice little words that gave me a good idea of the theme of the Arcanum. Fate said, "_Blessings, Curses, Oaths, Fortune, and Probability." _Time said, "_Divination, Prophecy, Temporal acceleration/deceleration." _Space said, _"Conjuration, Scrying, Sympathy, Teleportation, Wards." _Life said, "_Disease, Evolution, Healing, Metamorphosis, Vigor." _And Death said, "_Darkness, Decay, Ectoplasm, Enervation, Ghosts, Soul Stealing."_

"Sounds pretty good to me." I said to myself. They seemed like awesome powers to have. I could almost imagine myself, a powerful mage, taking down these Seers of the Throne single-handedly…whatever those guys looked like. Either way, I was confident that I would be completely awesome in the war. All I had to do was study the spells and learn more about magic…it was that simple, right?

By the time I got out of the room, they were already practicing magic without me. Marlok watched over them all. I had a feeling that the teacher was more for the purpose of making sure they didn't blow anything up. Meanwhile, the cabals were each in an individual corner. When Marlok saw me, he pointed me to my cabal.

"Hey, guys, I decided which Arcanum I'm learning." Jimmy took the books from my hand and read the covers.

"Death, Space, and Life? Nice. I'm pretty good at Life myself." He said, giving me an approving smile.

"Yeah, well, let's hope he's useful." Lukas added.

_Fuck you Lukas. You wanna fuckin' go?_ I thought.

"Well, thanks! So, we're basically casting spells?" I asked.

"Yeah." Curtis said. "We might even try a Duel Arcane later on. We were really waiting for you so that we could teach you the basics of magic."

Again, everybody was waiting for me. I was starting to see a pattern and I didn't like it. I didn't want to be the "new guy". I always hated being the new guy, which is why I always hated transferring to new schools.

"Okay…basics of magic. Lay it on me." I said.

"Well, first," Jessica said. "you have to create an imago. I'm assuming Marlok told you what that was?"

"Yeah, but he didn't go into detail." I replied.

"An imago is basically what you visualize your spell doing. First you have to think about what you want you want to do. After that, you visualize the effect. Since this is your first time even casting a spell, just try something from one of your books." Jimmy advised.

Taking his advice, I picked a book at random – Space – and opened it to the very first page. It was in a format that showed the name of the spell then it said what it did and what imago to form to effectively cast the spell. It was a level one spell, so it was simple enough to do.

"Omnivision. It sounds…simple enough. How hard could it be to give myself 360 degree vision?" I thought out loud.

Everybody stepped back either out of fear that I'll do something stupid, or the desire to not distract me. Either way, that made me pretty nervous. But I've formed mental images all the time…plus the book had instructions on how to properly cast the spell. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all.

"Here goes nothing…" I mumbled. Doing what the book said, I closed my eyes and imagined that my vision extended all around me. I no longer was limited to seeing just in front of myself; I could see in all directions now. And as I added a bit of will to my imago, I opened my eyes and it became reality. I could see in front of myself, behind myself, and at my sides without having to turn my head. It was pretty weird…like a panoramic view of the room that went all around me, a view that never went away.

"Well, Edwindir…?" Jimmy asked. "Did it work?"

"THIS….IS….AMAZING! I CAN SEE EVERYTHING! OH MY GOD—I CAN SEE BEHIND ME! I'M MAKING EYE CONTACT WITH SOMEBODY THAT IS RIGHT BEHIND ME!" Obviously, I was freaking out. I mean, this was some alien geometries type of shit. The kind of thing you'd see in an M.C. Escher painting!

The whole cabal started to walk around me, and I was amazed at the fact that I could see them at all times. A flaw in the spell, however, is that I couldn't see anything else if I focused on them. It would definitely be useful in a fight, but I'd always have to be alert.

"Okay—it's awesome and all, but calm down. You can't use magic all willy-nilly now." Jessica advised. I could see why she was telling me to calm down, because I was practically bouncing up and down. But then I stopped when I heard the last part of her sentence.

"..Why not?" I asked. I always did wonder why humans hadn't seen magic in action. I mean, with the whole 'telling people about magic weakens it' issue, I'm sure showing them a couple of magical tricks would solve it.

"Well, you see…It's—remember when I told you that uh…magic is weakened when we tell others about it?" She asked. I gave a simple nod.

"Well, we can't use our magic in front of humans. Normal humans, that is. Something called Paradox, which is also the result of the Abysss, hurts us in various ways if we use magic in front of normal humans. That's why we can't attract attention, or use the flashier spells. Paradox will basically chew our faces off."

I had a few questions—like first off, _normal humans_? Wasn't there no other type? Unless I could see a…werewolf or a vampire down the street, I didn't see what she meant by that. Sure, I'd seen crazy things and all, but I wasn't willing to believe everything. Overall, I saved all of my questions for later since I wanted to get back to spell practice.

After spell practice, everyone in the room sat back down at their individual tables when Marlok instructed them to. He wrote "The History of Magic" on the white board. Everybody groaned a bit, and Marlok gave everybody a look of sympathy. I could tell that they must've gone over this a lot.

"Sorry, guys. I know we've gone through this before, but since a new student is here…" Marlok said. I didn't understand why he couldn't just give me a book that had the story in it, but I didn't question it since I kind of wanted to know the history of magic.

"Does anybody want to tell the story? No?" Marlok sighed. "Okay…back in the time before history, humanity was plagued by monsters and spirits that attacked them from night to day. In their dreams, their souls would be called by a mysterious island that was circled by dragons. These callings continued until the day the dragons left and humanity set sail for this island. When they arrived, sacred caves called to them. They would meditate inside of these caves and enter the Supernal World – the world from which all magic comes. The true home of the soul. Man would come back down with knowledge of magic, the ability to bend reality with their minds. So, humans built the ancient city of Atlantis where the four orders would keep peace, and the five princes would rule. Out of our hubris, we created a celestial ladder all the way up to the Supernal World. Mages climbed it, waged war on the gods that ruled the realm, and became the new gods of the Supernal. These ten mages, however, became greedy. They destroyed the ladder so that other people will not have the power of magic, and they created the Abyss in the gap that formed when the ladder was destroyed… Thankfully, the five princes of Atlantis waged war on these tyrannical mage-gods, and so began the First Wizard's War. The result was the five watchtowers that call to our souls when we awaken. The five princes were the Oracles, and the ten tyrannical mages are the Exarchs. Or so the myth says."

Marlok's story was very…interesting to say the least. I didn't know if I believed in it or not. I felt that I didn't have the whole story. Maybe Marlok gave the shortened version of the story to save time…which was perfectly fine with me, since the bell rang right after his last word. I had to think about what I had before, though. The Seers of the Throne worked for the Exarchs…why would they do something like that? These people ruled reality – which was apparently a lie, if I had interpreted what Lukas had said earlier correctly. Why would the Seers side with those assholes? If they wanted to cut magic off from reality, I definitely wouldn't side with them.

"Some people…" Lukas told me as everyone rose up, as if reading my mind. "…Are just desperate. The struggle of being a mage is very real…and some just believe it's hopeless."

And with that happy thought, we headed off to combat training.

Combat training was in a rather large gymnasium with pads all over the floor and walls. The blood stains, however, didn't make me feel any safer. The one who was teaching combat training was Raguel – and we were fighting with bladed weapons. Weapons like guns and explosives were highly discouraged due to their tendency to attract attention. With things like Paradox about…I could see why the war would be secret.

"Alright, guys…now, we have a new member of the Free Council. Edwindir over there is an Acanthus mage." Raguel began with his deep, commanding voice. I was glad he didn't make me introduce myself – the guy was pretty nice, I had to admit. When I looked at Jessica, she was looking at him all doe-eyed. I guess I was cool with it—girls liked the better-looking, stronger guys. I wouldn't hold a grudge against her for a preference. Hell, I was probably just jumping to conclusions.

Everybody either just absently waved at me or gave me a simple "Hello." I didn't pay much attention to them because it might've been against an unspoken rule to make friends outside of your cabal. I was probably just being paranoid, but you can't be too careful with these wonky mage traditions nowadays.

"Now…we'll go through basic sparring techniques. I'm sorry that this week is going so fast, guys, but with the war, we have to make sure that Minutemen are ready for combat as soon as possible. Remember guys, outside there, you won't be able to use magic as freely as normal." Raguel announced. A few assistant mages came by with bins full of real weapons…and that was another factor that scared me. Everybody picked their own weapon when the bin came along – Jessica picked a knife, Lukas picked a broadsword, Jimmy picked a wooden staff, and Curtis picked a lightweight-looking hammer. When the bin came over to me, I had to think about what I was going to pick.

Earlier on when I was reading my book about High Speech, I read a small section that taught about magical tools. A mage could simply use his mind to assert his will onto reality, but it would be easier with a magical tool. I read through the available tools for each path, and I searched the bin for something that would work.

_Bow and arrow? No…I'd be horrible long distance. And a staff would be absolutely horrible in a battle – don't know how Jimmy does it. Maybe I'll go with…_ And that's when I decided. I took two rapiers out of the bin and they were perfect for me. They were easy to sheathe, they were lightweight and only required one hand.

"…Are you sure you're going with that?" Curtis asked. "Rapiers are lightweight, but learning how to duel with them is difficult...especially when you're wielding two. It's like dancing but…not."

I shrugged. "I was a level fifteen duelist-thief acrobat in a D&D game. Does that count?"

Curtis chuckled, and I was grateful deep down that he got the joke. Now I would have things to talk to him about.

Every mage in the room had to line up, each and every one faced Raguel and his mage assistants, who wore strange mystical-looking armor that wisped with blue smoke-like aura. Atlantean Runes covered their chest plates and their shoulder guards. They might have been protection spells.

"Alright, guys…now, you may find yourself fighting more than one opponent. In this situation, do not panic. You can take care of it with what I've been teaching you for the past month. Edwindir, come over here." Raguel called to me and I stepped forward. He saw that he was holding two rapiers and he sighed a bit. Sheathing his broadsword, he took one of his rapiers and stepped a few feet back.

"Start with one before you go to two, okay?" Raguel stood in the "on guard" position, the tip of the rapier pointing towards me. I copied his stance the best I could.

"Pretty good stance…now, do you really know anything about fencing?" Raguel asked. I could hear slight giggles from the crowd, as if they expected me to fail miserably.

"Well, uh…no, I hadn't done it myself. I've seen videos on it though, studied them. I've been pretty interested in it since I was fifteen…but I never got the opportunity." I admitted. Speaking about when I was younger reminded me of my home, which reminded me of…yeah, you get it.

"Alright, basically, fencing is like dancing. Its quick movement, you have to be mobile and acrobatic. Thankfully, you already look like you're mobile, and you have that Acanthus luck of yours."

Raguel continued telling me about the basic defense positions, swinging and thrusting the sword, and blocking. With how cool this all was, I'd wished that I'd taken fencing before. That way I'd be able to completely dominate at the war due to experience. Raguel then taught me more complex moves like countering and breaking the enemy's guard. With how good of a teacher he was, I already felt that I knew the basics.

"Now, let's test what you've learned. Remember, speed and grace. Fighting with the rapier is an art." Raguel stood back in the "on guard" position and slowly came towards me. I was on guard too, cautious of any attacks he might throw due to being a more skilled opponent.

Raguel started with a thrust, but I immediately sidestepped – partly because of luck, and partly because of my actual reflexes. Raguel wasn't done though. He swung now, but I was able to parry just outside of the swing. Now that his arms were in post-swing, I stepped forward and thrust towards his torso, but he managed to stop me by grabbing my arm and pulling me close. Next thing I knew, a blade was against my neck and my arm was restrained.

"Never let your enemy grab you. It can be the death of you." Raguel advised. He simply broke away from me and ordered his assistants to train the other mages in combat. Raguel taught me personally since I was a newer student, and I wasn't quite as caught up as them. Looking at the mages spar, I could see that was pretty true. They were only a month in training and they already seemed like badass killing machines.

Raguel went over blocking, countering, dodging, and striking again with me. We went over the same thing over and over again until I got it right, and then we'd move on to a different thing. I could already tell that this guy was going to make me a good fighter. If he could teach normal mages how to kill two people at once in a month, then he can teach a nobody like me to be badass with rapiers. He even gave me back my other rapier when he felt I was ready for it. Fighting with dual rapiers was much more difficult, and I could already see that. Either way, I was determined to learn.

"Alright, guys, our final exercise will be sparring with your cabal mates. Each of you take a turn sparring one another. This is to test your cabal-mate's combat abilities. Remember, do not be afraid to give them pointers." Raguel told everyone after I knew the basics of dual wielding and how to fight with one rapier.

However, just as everyone in the gym was getting ready to sparr, I could hear the phones of everyone in the Virtus Draconis's – except for me – phone ring. They quickly pulled their fancy phones out and read through the message. I saw their eyes widen in unison as the glanced at Raguel.

"What is it?" Raguel asked.

"A Seer pylon infiltrated an important museum." Lukas explained. "We have to get them before they find a passage way to one of the Mysterium libraries."

Raguel nodded and everybody in the Virtus Draconis walked towards the door. I stood there, confused.

"Come on, Edwindir! This is for all of us." Jessica called out.

"Go on." Raguel ordered. I turned around, found sheathes for my rapiers and sheathed them. Then I went over to the door with the rest of the cabal.

"Stay close to me." Jimmy advised. "I can patch you up if you get hurt."


	5. Chapter 5 - The Hallow

The Virtus Draconis rode in Jessica's truck to the scene. Jessica drove as fast as she could while obeying the rules of the road. After all, it would be horrible to get pulled over when we were supposed to get to a job. Typically, New York traffic happened, and we were stuck in a traffic jam.

"Shit." Jessica cursed, looking back at Curtis, Lukas and I in the back seat. "Think we'll be able to walk?"

Curtis looked down at his GPS. "Yeah, the museum is within walking distance. I'm surprised the cops aren't there yet."

I could hear the sound of an alarm distantly ahead. Yeah, it was definitely walking distance. The horns of the other cars beeped harshly. I yawned, my body reminding me that it was still pretty early in the morning. I wished that we weren't just called out of class like that.

"We'll need to keep them away from the scene so we're unhindered by paradox. Somebody has to distract the cops. Any volunteers?" Jessica asked, unbuckling her seatbelt to get out of the car. Everyone else including me did the same.

"I will." Lukas offered. A shiver went down my spine. We were going against actual mages…without our muscle, just how good would we be? I was probably being paranoid. I couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to really suck though.

"Okay – don't kill anyone. The last thing we need is blood on our hands." Jessica ordered. As big, bad, and strong as Lukas was, he obediently nodded at Jessica's orders. Just comes to show you, no matter how big and strong you are, you always have to listen to the leader.

"I assume I have to get the cops to come after me?" He asked.

"You know me too well." Jessica smirked and started making her way to the museum. The rest of us – minus Lukas – followed her.

We definitely bought attention upon ourselves, what with our weapons and all. But to my amazement, we were dismissed without a second glance. I knew that New Yorkers were jaded and all, but this was ridiculous. Part of me wondered if this was some type of magical veil…but then I realized that none of us were probably powerful enough to do such a thing. New Yorkers _simply did not give a shit._

My dual rapiers felt light hanging from my hips. I could tell that I'd picked the right weapon. A skinny guy like me would never be able to wield something as hardcore as a broadsword or a shotgun properly. I was fine with the dual rapiers. In fights I'd gotten in as a little kid, speed always seemed to favor me more than brute strength. I had to remember that strength. Develop it.

We were close to the alarm now. It was practically around the corner. As we neared a turn, Jessica stopped us all and turned to me. Her gaze told me she could use me for something, and I was eager to be of help.

"What is it? Do I have some cool magical task to perform?" I asked, hope perhaps a little too present in my voice.

"Actually, yeah. You read through your Arcanum books while we were in the truck, right?" Jessica asked.

I nodded eagerly. My mind instantly went to the spells I'd read about, and what she would want me to do.

"Mhm! What is it you want me to do?"

"Use Angle Vision. Scout what's around this corner." Jessica ordered. I was amazed that Jessica could order people around without sounding bossy. That was a skill I was jealous of…I mean, I was no leader. But I was determined to fit in this cabal's equation one way or another.

I knew about the Angle Vision spell, and I knew exactly what imago to form. I stepped forward and closed my eyes. What I read from the book is that space is merely an illusion. It only existed so that everything didn't go on in one place. I imagined that the space separating me and the museum I was supposed to scout was actually just a straight line. I felt my vision extend beyond what I could see, and with my mind's eye, I spotted a group of mages inside the Museum. They were ransacking it to find…something.

"They're inside already." I said once I'd successfully performed the spell. "I guess that was obvious – sorry. They're uh…trashing the museum. They appear to be looking for secret passageways."

"They know the Mysterium too well." Curtis commented.

"Anything else they're doing?" Jessica asked.

I focused again. My mind's eye spotted them finding this symbol on the wall that was behind a painting. Although I couldn't hear what they were saying, I could read their lips. They spoke in high speech…they were probably using an unveiling spell.

"They're speaking incantations…" I informed them. "Probably…an unveiling spell. They found a symbol."

I spotted Jessica widen her eyes behind me.

"We have to get to them. Fast."

"I advise we go for a more silent approach." Curtis said. "They don't know we're here. We have the element of surprise."

Jessica nodded, evidently taking the suggestion to heart. She glanced down to the ground, as if in deep thought then looked at Curtis.

"What artifact is here that they're trying to steal?"

Curtis seemed to be thinking also. "Uh…the Golden Scepter. It's an Astra, I think…it allows one to create hallows freely, and also it can create some pretty powerful firestorms."

I didn't know what an Astra or a Hallow was, but I continued listening to their conversation. Jimmy read my expression, and apparently decided to fill me in.

"Hallows are where mana comes from, and mana fuels our power. Astras are super powerful artifacts that give the wielder incredible power. They usually choose a mage, but sometimes they don't have a 'chosen one', so they can go to anybody. Mages kill each other over that kind of shit."

So, these Seers were after an Astra that would allow them basically unlimited mana and the ability to conjure powerful firestorms. I had a feeling that this didn't invoke paradox – and if my suspicions were true, then they definitely needed to be stopped. Giving a group of evil mages practically unlimited mana and power over fire? That was definitely bad.

"Alright, let's go in and stomp these bitches." I said impatiently. I was getting sick of standing there as they neared the artifact.

"Let's not be so hasty. Stealthy as Gyrathgar said." Jessica reminded me.

All three of us slowly made our way to the museum. The pylon was long gone from the museum lobby, so we didn't have to worry about hiding ourselves coming in. I could see that there was a large, rectangular opening in the wall that led to a stairway and then a medieval-style corridor.

"Damn it. They're already getting there…" I mumbled under my breath.

As we walked through the medieval-style corridor, it became more…advanced? Rock and limestone turned into metal, and soon it looked more like an advanced alien spaceship than a hall. I could tell we were close to the mages because I heard their voices echoing off of the walls. The air became cold, probably because we were underground. A faint, ethereal blue light shone in the halls, seemingly from no source, and created deep shadows.

"We're close…" Curtis whispered. I didn't know how he came to that conclusion; all I could see ahead was darkness. I could faintly see Jessica nod in the darkness.

"Edwindir," Jessica called to me. "Use Spatial Mapping to locate the Astra."

I nodded; glad to be of use in this operation. I closed my eyes and formed the imago of my sight lifting from my body and acting as a gigantic eye for locating where everything was. That exact thing didn't happen, but I felt myself become aware of every object and point of interest in the area, and I had to say…this place was huge. It wasn't just one tunnel but a network of tunnels that led to various artifacts. I couldn't tell exactly what those artifacts were, but I knew they were there; if the seers gained control of this labyrinth of tunnels…

"It's just ahead…" I informed them. "We just have to keep going…but I'm guessing they know we're coming."

"Well, so much for stealth..." Curtis muttered.

We went ahead to a large, rectangular room made completely out of purple brick. It was so cold that I could see the light white shade that was my breath. Ahead, the four mages that broke in turned their heads. They had this weird headgear on; presumably night vision goggles.

_Great, they're already more prepared than us._ I thought. But it wasn't the time to be standing around. I unsheathed one rapier, getting into the "on guard" position like Raguel had taught me. I heard Curtis speak in High Speech…something about unveiling the darkness from the folds of the world or something. As he finished his sentence, the darkness lifted from the room seemingly magically. The faint blue light illuminated the room, engulfing everything in ethereal blue.

"Don't just stand there! Get them!" One of the mages, presumably the leader ordered. Three mages started running towards us, unsheathing swords and taking out retractable spears.

Okay, let me just get this out of the way: watching mages fight is _fantastic_. You'll see nothing like it in your life. If I got a choice between watching two oiled-up girls fight and watching two pissed off mages fight, I'd pick the latter.

That being said, _actually participating _in the fight was decidedly less fun.

Naturally, my small amount of luck kicked in the instant the flat of one of the mage's blade was about to hit me in the face. His arm bent in an uncomfortable way, but it wasn't broken. The force to the side of my face softened…meaning my face wasn't completely melted off. I fell to the side but used the momentum to roll and get out of his range. I was rubbing the side of my face as I was kicked in the chest. Luckily, I managed to roll to the side before the tip of the longsword impaled me in the face.

"Jesus Christ!" I said, just now out of breath. If this was what it meant to be in combat, I didn't think I'd enjoy being in a fight with a tall dude with a sword.

He ran for me. His sword was raised. Time slowed down. Was this my time magic…? I saw everything move slower. The world seemed to get a little blurry, but then I realized…it wasn't time slowing down. It was adrenaline…the rational side of my brain was shut off in favor of instincts. And with that, I staggered out of the way and flinched as his sword clashed with the floor.

"Acanthus mages…" The mage spat, his voice full of venom. "Always relying on dumb luck."

That made me angry. I clenched my fist, but it was then that I realized I dropped my rapier a while back. Oh god, there was nothing I could do. I was going to die here, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

_Schlink!_

I could hear the sound of a blade sinking into the mage's shoulder and a low pitched growl. When I realized what was going on, I could see Jessica fighting this guy one-on-one. Dear god, Raguel sure trained these guys well…this mage was twice her size, and he was wielding a longsword. Jessica? She was holding a knife against this dude. And she was totally kicking his ass. Sure, she was small, but she definitely had the speed advantage.

I watched in awe as I saw Jessica narrowly but gracefully dodged this guy's wide swings. I could see the bigger mage's face get more frustrated and angry as Jessica bombarded him with punches and kicks. She had the widest smile on her face as she jumped up and bought her knife down on his shoulder, dragged it across his chest, and took it out, letting him bleed out.

My mind didn't have time to wander. I stood up and immediately unsheathed my other rapier. Another mage with a spear came charging towards me, the wicked sharp blade pointing straight towards my forehead. I could tell he meant business.

And then, I heard more shouting in High Speech. Jimmy was the one shouting.

I saw the spear-wielding mage turn his wrists suddenly. His foot turned in the wrong way, folding under his weight with a sickening crunch. Even I felt sorry for the guy. He collapsed to the ground and was completely calm for the moment. He even tried to crawl towards me. For once, I got my best hit in and kicked him straight in the face, but yelped in pain since I basically hit a hard object.

"Edwindir, watch out!" Jimmy shouted.

I ducked under another pole arm just in time. It was partially my reflexes, partially my luck. I managed to stay on my feet as I ducked, but before I knew it the butt of the sphere was coming against my stomach. I would've gotten the breath beaten out of me if it weren't for Curtis tripping the mage with his five foot hammer.

You'd never expect a skinny guy like Curtis to be so good with a hammer. It was obvious the heavy weapon put a little strain on him, but he was quick with it. As soon as the mage was on the ground, I moved out of the way as Curtis bought his hammer around above his head, then finally down. It was disappointing when I saw the mage say a word in high speech, and the hammer bounced off. Curtis jumped back and gripped his hammer so that his bottom hand was near the butt of the hammer, and his top hand was near the top.

"Got it!" I heard Jessica call out. That's when I saw an invisible force hit the spear-wielding mage like a hard punch. It caused him to stagger to the side. His attention was immediately moved towards Jessica, who was running towards him. The mage used a similar spell, except the incantation was different and I saw a little…weird twist in space. The twist traveled to Jessica, who obviously couldn't see it, and she staggered back, her momentum broken.

_Now's my chance…_ I thought. While Jessica and the spear-wielding mage were having their long-distance battle, I slowly moved behind the mage and quietly bought my sword up to his chest. I hesitated; it was just then that I realized how terrifying all of this was. My adrenaline was already out. My arms felt heavy and my legs felt weak. The side of my face tingled from that time with the big mage. I looked left and right to see the dead body of the longsword wielding mage and Jimmy and Curtis double-teaming another mage, throwing spells that I didn't know existed.

But there I was. I had the perfect shot, but as soon as the point came close to the mage's back, my hands started shaking. I was just a normal highschool boy…but just yesterday I was thrown into this big, magical world where I learned that reality was a lie and that New York is secretly in a war with evil mages. Sure, it sounds cool and all, but I didn't know if I could really _kill._ This was proof of it. These mage guys never did anything to me. Sure, they're serving the Exarchs and all…and the Exarchs are assholes, but what have _they_ done to _me?_

_Reality is a lie._ I remembered Lukas say back at the dorm.

That had meaning. Reality was a lie… every small problem, every big problem; every huge ass holy-shit problem was because of the Exarchs. No, reality wasn't just a lie. It was _their_ lie. And now they sit all high and fucking mighty on their thrones, laughing at every single one of our problems – problems that they created. They rule the world. They broke reality and their servants are supporting this lie of reality. For what? Money? Support? Hope?

They had to pay. And it was for that reason that I decided to kill the mage that was currently fighting Jessica. It was then that I decided to impale him through the chest with my rapier…

And then there was nothing…then there was pain. I felt my body slam against the wall. I grunted. My ears rang and my vision blurred. I was hit with such force, and I was being choked on top of that. It was then that I saw the leader that ordered them. He had the Golden Scepter in his hand, and I was about to be burned into cinders.

"You're obviously the weakest one." The leader said coldly, his dark brown eyes peering into my blue ones. "You're getting saved left and right. You're probably an initiate…and you have no strength. You'll only get pulled around by your cabal-mates…and for _what?_ You confide in the Pentacle. Probably believe that the Oracles will one day win the war against the Exarchs. But no…they're not. The Oracles are dead. The Exarchs have won. You futilely fight against them, hoping that one day you'll make a difference in the Fallen World because they _let_ you believe it. The Seers and the Exarchs _laugh_ at your attempts to beat them. Every second, there are more of us. Every minute, a Pentacle fool falls beneath our might."

I couldn't say anything. Mostly because I was getting choked. I spat at him, but the mage merely chuckled. He held up his scepter…the beautiful orb at the top blazed a brilliant gold. Fire came out of the designs and it twirled. Scenes flashed before me – heavenly angels taking down dark beasts, winged creatures on fire destroying whole cities-worth of demons. It was glorious, powerful. It would be beautiful if I wasn't about to get burned to death.

And that's when I saw the mage's head lop off. It rolled a little along the ground, and blood oozed out of the wide open wound. The smell assaulted my nostrils, causing me to reflexively cover my nose. I dropped to my feet since the grip on me was loosened. The body collapsed to its knees and fell to the ground. I looked forward to see Lukas, sword unsheathed and glowing red seemingly. Behind him, a huge red gate closed.

"And one of you dies every second." Lukas said, as if to finish off the mage's last words to me.

Lukas looked…terrifying. Don't get me wrong, he looked heroic and all, but something about him just _scared_ me. Around him, space seemed to stretch. He seemed impossibly far away but in reach at the same time. The area around him was dark, and his red glow seemed only highlighted by the appearance of a red flame along the lining of his longsword. He didn't have the brazen, glorious presence of a hero. He had the dark, intimidating, and hellish presence of an antihero.

_Warlocks on the path of scrounging. _I thought to myself. Something told me that that wasn't just a title.

I heard another _bang_ and I looked to my left to see the mage that Curtis and Jimmy were fighting fall to his knees, unconscious or dead. It looked like an overall victory for the Virtus Draconis. Lukas even made a guest appearance. As much as I just…didn't like him, he saved me from getting burned. Maybe he wasn't that bad of a guy, maybe I was just holding onto anger. I had to at least give the guy a proper "thank you".

"Hey, Desmond?" I called over to Lukas, who was just walking away from the dead body but stopped when he heard me.

"Yes, Acanth-…Edwindir?"

"I uh…gotta thank you for saving my life."

Lukas's facial expression softened but still retained its usual stern look. He hadn't warmed up to me, it seems. "Don't mention it. Just doing what's best for the team."

* * *

We went McDonalds to celebrate the mission accomplished. It was along the way that certain jobs inside of the cabal were told to me. Hearthmaster was Jimmy and Jessica who kept the cabal together, acting as a heart whenever they had disputes. Jimmy also served as a Lorekeeper who kept the knowledge and history of the cabal intact. Lukas was a doorwarden who protected the cabal, and a scrounger who gathers resources for the cabal. Curtis is the Hexer, who tends to the mystical landscape that we provide. He makes sure we can get mana when we needed it…which, by the way, was apparently now.

I felt a sudden…emptiness inside of myself. It wasn't hunger or sadness…I just felt the absence of something. It felt unnatural…but I'd felt that I had this absence before. I didn't notice it until now. It was like someone tore a hole into my soul…and then I realized I was probably out of mana. I then realized that my magic wasn't just a physical thing…it was a necessity for my soul.

As we were eating the McDonalds meals that Jessica bought us all, Curtis seemed to be too focused on something else to eat.

"…There's a hallow miles from us. But I can redirect it so that it's closer…" Curtis finally said. I could tell that this was some weird Hexer thing that I'd never understand. Everybody at the table nodded in understanding.

"Let's go outside before we do it." Jessica decided. "We've used a lot of magic today. We don't want anyone to be around if Paradox brings down anything from the Abyss."

My eyes widened. "Wait – even if nobody sees the spell, there's still a chance we'll invoke Paradox?"

Jimmy nodded grimly. "Yeah…it only gets more common as you become a more powerful mage. We don't just use magic conservatively because of mana issues. We do it because there's a chance that a nasty sentient shadow will come down from Nothingwhere and destroy half a city block, hence why we're going outside."

When we went outside, Curtis leaned against Jessica's truck and crossed his arms, his head hung down. His breathing slowed, and it seemed like the cold didn't even bother him anymore. It took a while, but he eventually looked back at us. "The hallow is within walking distance now. Let's go before someone else detects it."

Hallows are weird. The second we got close, I could see a bunch of people wandering towards it as if they were in a trance. I read from my book on the way to McDonalds that hallows call out to the souls of humans, so they're always wandering towards them in some kind of superstitious awe or religious regard. I didn't believe it until I saw people wandering towards it…and it would make meditating inside of it hard.

The hallow in this case was a rather large tree inside of a garden. I could feel it too...there was something awe-inspiring about that tree. It was at least nine feet larger than every other tree in that area, and it had different carvings in it. They were mostly sappy things like, "M + S 5ever" or, "I will eat your children".

As soon as we got close to it, everyone dropped their sheathed weapons on the ground as if they were at home. Indeed, I could feel a sense of relief wash over me…it was as if it were calling to me. I felt slightly sleepy, so I walked under one of its branches and sat down. I saw the rest of the Virtus Draconis do the same.

And then they got into a meditative position. I got with it and did the same thing. My eyes felt heavy so I closed them…

I woke up in Arcadia. Well, no…not exactly. It was like Arcadia though: a vast, ever-changing landscape and exaggerated features. What was once a garden now turned into…a garden; a garden of cruel, eldritch beauty that stretched on for miles. The tree I was under seemed to stretch up like a skyscraper, thorns coming out of its sides, shimmering palely like the moon.

However, what was different was that there was no watchtower. No…there was a gigantic, silver citadel that glowed shimmering pale, also like the moon. The citadel had beautiful designs that reminded me of fairytales – tall, weird-looking beings making deals with humans. Little children wandering into the forest where the Fair Folk dwell and the ogres eat. What surrounded the citadel were big, beautiful red roses that twirled and danced in the hot summer air. I seemed to be in front of a road. Above, vines arched beautifully. Everything about this place was beautiful…and I almost never wanted to leave.

_Mason… _I heard a voice call out to me from the distance.

Again I found myself in a strange world. And again…I walked ahead to see what the hell was going on.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Astral Journey

As I walked along the path, I noticed more and more differences from Arcadia. For example, below my path was a murky, black ocean where…things came out. I saw headless birds with fanged mouths on their breasts fly up from the waves, never reaching up to where I was from the darkness. Struggling against the tide were three-legged, scaled things with umbilici that stretched towards the black beach where the water ended. Gears and wheels that turned into themselves, full of eyes and faces, crept onto the shore from the darkness. I spotted ahead the horizon of the sea and saw…nothing. There was a horrible nothingness beyond those waters that just seemed wrong. It was a gulf...a never ending space that only seemed to get vaster and vaster. Although I was staring at it, it just seemed to be staring at me back. It was pulling in my soul…I almost forgot what I was doing…

It was the Abyss. And it was going to consume me if I didn't continue on.

_Mason… _The voice called out to me again. I snapped out of my trance, realizing that I was walking closer and closer to the edge of my path, nearing the black and murky waters that led to the abyss. I promptly stopped because, you know…the Abyss isn't an exactly safe place, I imagined.

So I ventured along the path, making sure to not look at anything below myself on the way. I only paid attention to the beautiful scenery around me; the beautiful trees, the exaggerated colors and the bright blue sky. Even if I wasn't in Arcadia, the beauty of this place was definitely Arcadian. I didn't see the tall, slim beings that I'd seen in Arcadia, which led me to believe that this definitely wasn't the Abode of the Fae. No…this was just as powerful, just as ancient.

As I neared the citadel, I noticed the scene changing from a warm summer day to a midsummer night. Stars filled the sky, more stars than I'd ever seen. Instead of the fifty or so you'd get in the city, the sky was filled with thousands. Beautiful nebulae and multicolored dust clouds stretched across the sky. The moon was big and silver, filling everything around me with a seemingly mystical glow. This place was definitely magical, and something about it made me feel…natural. I don't know what it was but despite this place looking nothing like home, I felt like this was where I was supposed to be.

My walk eventually came to a stop. I looked up at the beautiful roses, dancing in the moonlight at the height of skyscrapers, but moving gracefully as if the air was water. They covered the gateway that I had to get through to get into the castle's courtyard. The flowers just danced and danced, but I didn't have time for it. I had to get through to see what was calling to me. I then remembered a little thing that happened in Arcadia.

"Move." I commanded. Nothing happened. "Hell…fire…uh…fuck."

It seemed like nothing I could do would move the flowers. I assumed that this was some life lesson that required me to openly admit that I was powerless, and that I had to give my soul to the winds or chance or something like that. I sighed, accepting the fact that I was probably going to be there forever, since the concept of giving your whole life away to chance was pretty stupid.

And then, without me learning or saying anything, the roses proceeded to move the fuck away from the gate.

_Oh._ I thought as I walked forward and pushed the gate open with both hands. The beautiful, silver gates were pushed open, and I moved on into the courtyard.

The citadel was strangely empty…which sort of made its beautiful interior useless. The floors and walls were made out of shiny marble; fountains with strange designs like children getting eaten by ogres or husbands looking upon their wives with horror as they turned into cruel beasts were scattered around the area. Ahead, there was a large, silver temple with thorn designs and faery statues on and around it. __

Come forth... The voice seemed a little more physical now, a little louder as if I'd come a little closer to who was calling. As the voice commanded, I walked forward and towards the temple. The voice only became more physical and…feminine? I made my way up the long, huge stairway that led to the double-doors of the temple. When I got there, I pushed them open, being met with a warm breeze that smelled of fruit and earth…

Ahead were two beings sitting on thrones of shining ivory. They were tall, thin, and certainly not human.

One of them was male, I thought. His throne was decorated with signatures and dice and scenes that depicted people making deals with various beings. The being himself was seven feet tall and inhumanly thin. His skin was pale and his eyes were black. His ears were pointed like an elf's, and he had no facial hair. His skin appeared to be made out of wood and even more signatures were carved into his skin. His armor was made out of leaves, vines, and thorns, but it was formless. His black eyes had a youthful glint in them, like if I got close to him he'd steal my wallet or something.

I couldn't tell the gender of the one sitting in the throne next to him, however. Its throne was made out of ivory much like the elf's, but instead of it looking like a chair, it looked like a bunch of gears and watch hands piled upon each other. The form of the thing sitting on it made less sense. It was a jumble of gears and numbers, each bunched together and orbiting around what seemed to be an iridescent orb that pulsated. In the outer "layer" of this being were a bunch of eyes, each showing a different period in history – _my _history. But the ones that didn't scared me the most. When I looked into them, I saw something infinite and incomprehensible. I can't describe it but…I felt small compared to what I was seeing. It's huge, omni-directional form almost made my brain melt, so I struggled to put it into segments – seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years….

I was looking at time itself.

"He's finally here…" I heard the elf-man speak up. His voice had a whimsical tone to his voice, as if this were all a game to him. "I told you he wouldn't get lost, Gloriana."

The mass of gears, presumably Gloriana, spoke in the feminine voice that called me there. "Yes, brother, I know. If I'm wrong, then you're right. And vise versa. You should not rub it in my face when the results have been known _forever, _Medraut."

And then they started bickering like siblings…which I didn't expect from beings on some kind of ethereal plane.

"Guys…?" I tried to get their attention, but they kept bickering. "Guys. Gu-Gu…GUYS!"

The moment I started yelling, they fixed their attention back on me. For a second, I thought they were going to pick me up with their minds and throw me into the Abyss but they merely paid attention. I guess they wouldn't have given me audience if they intended on killing me.

"I uh…" I began. "I sort of...don't know where I am. Sorry, I'm new to this…"

"We know." Gloriana replied.

"Okay then…you know…uh…is there anything you need me for? Is there a reason I'm here, or was this just a fluke?" I asked.

Medraut, the elf-guy, scoffed. "There are no 'flukes', no 'coincidences'. _You_, being an Acanthus mage, should know that better than anyone."

"Be calm, Medraut." Gloriana said sternly but calmly. "The boy knows not who we are, where he is, or what our purpose is for him. We should introduce ourselves."

Medraut sighed impatiently, and then shrugged. "I am Medraut, Aeon of Fate."

Now was Gloriana's turn. "I am Gloriana Temporae, Aeon of Time."

Fate and Time…the two Arcana I had as an Enchanter. I wondered what these two had to do with the Acanthus path, or even Arcadia and the two Arcana. But, of course, as if reading my mind they answered.

"We Aeons are embodiments of the Arcanum." Gloriana Temporae elaborated. "There are more of us…but they are not here. In this citadel, it is only us two. We do not enter the citadels of other Aeons."

Gloriana Temporae and Medraut were the embodiments of Time and Fate…that meant they were more powerful than I thought they were. All I had was minor control of Fate and Time…these two were the _concepts themselves._ Thinking about how infinite they must be made my head hurt. They could destroy me right now – give me infinitely bad luck or age me to dust…but that's only if I made enemies out of them.

"Oh god – I mean…uh…sorry, is saying things like that offensive to you? I don't mean to – uh…I'll just bow down now." I stumbled over my words and got to my knees.

"Respect for once!" Medraut said in mile amusement. "Yes, mortal. Bow down before the Aeons of Fate and Time! Respect us! Feaaar us!"

"Cease, Medraut!" Gloriana chided. One of her many eyes looked upon me. "Be not afraid, young mage. We merely have a quest for you. We are not Gods; we embody what the Arcana of Fate and Time are. Nothing more, nothing less."

Gloriana's words strangely took me out of my nervous wreck. I stood up n my feet, eyeing the two beings on their ivory thrones. I had to admit that I felt pretty special. After all, the _embodiments_ of Fate and Time had a quest for me! I was pretty excited. There was nothing you could say at that moment that would make me think I suck as a mage. They only picked the best to fill out their requests, right…?

"Alright…what's your request?"

"This will benefit both the Pentacle and us." Medraut began. "Tonight there will be a meeting between a Seer pylon and the Ventrue."

"Medraut, he doesn't know who the Ventrue are." Gloriana interjected.

Medraut let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "This is why I hate summoning new mages, but _nooo_—"

"Medraut." Gloriana said, almost impatiently.

"The Ventrue is a vampire clan. The pylon wants vampire support to help them in the war – vampires are quite valuable when you want information on something." Medraut explained.

"Okay…what's in it for the vampires?" I asked, knowing that vampires exist already from the table conversation I had with my cabal-mates back at the dorm.

"Arcane knowledge." Gloriana said.

"So…?" I asked.

"_Acanthus _arcane knowledge." Medraut added. "The Seers plan on teaching the vampires how to control Fate and Time so they can get support. Think of what the vampires can do with this – more so, think of what would happen if they learned to get their hands on _other_ forms of magic."

I didn't know what vampires were really like, but from the level of urgency in their voices I knew they weren't good. I imagined them as undead monsters, uncaring for humanity and only thirsting for a human's blood.

"Normally, a soul would be required to use Atlantean magic…" Gloriana began. "But the vampires have found a way to substitute a soul for blood. They may not be able to use Acanthus magic exactly, but they will be able to use a few of its techniques. At any rate, you must stop it."

Okay, stop the Seers and the vampires…it seemed easy enough. That is, if I was able to at least kill a mage. And then there was the fact that vampires always scared the hell out of me, so I couldn't see myself slaying them. I just felt…useless.

Back at the tunnel, I wasn't able to kill one mage. Hell, I wasn't able to _kill_ at all. I'd accepted that this was a war and that I would have to kill people…but actually murdering seemed to be difficult for me. Surely this wasn't my fault – I mean, I didn't get much training, my parents died just yesterday, and I'm fighting enemies that hadn't done anything for me. This is one of the reasons I wouldn't be able to join the military: I simply can't fight an enemy that has done nothing to me.

And now the embodiments of Fate and Time were going to have me kill a Seer pylon and a couple of vampires. I didn't know if I could do that…yet they chose _me_ to do this for some reason. They knew I was uncomfortable with killing, probably. How could they not? Maybe this was a test to see if I was really fit to be a mage. Maybe they were calling me out on me not being able to kill.

"Alright…I accept your mission. But uh…what's in it for me?" I asked.

Medraut seemed to already know I was going to ask that.

"If you do this successfully, we'll give you the time and location of an important Seer sanctum – or base, since you're a new." He promised. I remember that one of Fate's tags were "oaths". I hoped that Medraut's words were trustworthy.

"Alright…seems worth it. " I decided. "Can I get directions…?"

The Aeon of Time looked me in the eye…and proceeded to bestow all of the information I'd need to get there on me. My head hurt from the wave of information assaulting my skull. It felt like my brain was inflating and about to burst out of my skull. As quick as it started, I knew exactly where they were meeting, when they were meeting, and for what reason they were meeting.

"Alright, I've got it. So do I have to walk back or—"

I woke up under the tree. The rest of the Virtus Draconis seemed to have gotten up from their mana-gathering meditation long before I have. In fact, they looked concerned. As soon as I woke up, I checked my watch – two o'clock. They were going to meet at four…we had two hours to get to Central Park so we could stop their little deal.

"Thank god, he's not dead." Jessica sighed in relief. I could see that Jimmy was examining me closely – probably to check if I was still alive – and Curtis and Lukas were watching from afar.

"What? No, I'm not dead. In fact, I—"

"We figured." Jimmy cut me off, apparently knowing that I went to Arcadia or something. "We didn't expect you to meditate…so how was your Astral Journey?"

Astral Journey…so that's what it was called. "It was…alright, I guess. Is there a name for the place I've just been to…?"

Curtis shrugged. "The Astral Planes have different levels. The Oneiroi, the Temenos, the Dreamtime, and the Anima Mundi. You should probably give details on the place you were in."

I described to them the hauntingly beautiful terrain and the silver citadel under the moon. When I finished describing the place to them, they looked at each other, probably confused.

"…You were at the edge of the Dreamtime." Curtis said. "There's no way you could've gotten there on your first try…not without your soul getting washed away."

"Unless he was summoned." Jessica interjected.

"Well, that would mean that he has some kind of mission that he hadn't told us about yet." Curtis countered. The Virtus Draconis then looked at me expectantly.

And that's when I told them about the mission that Medraut and Gloriana Temporae had sent me on. I told them that the Seers were planning on giving the vampires arcane knowledge in exchange for their allegiance.

"What? No…the vampires don't trust us." Lukas said. "You were probably lied to. Medraut is a fickle being."

"But…it does sound kinda smart, don't you think?" Jessica asked.

"Yes, but—"

"Jessica has a point." Curtis interrupted Lukas. "Although these are the Aeons of Acanthus, they do have the ability to see into the future. Plus, the vampires are power-hungry. If they're giving them a means for universal understanding? I'd bet my father's grave that they're going to take that deal. Especially if they can always just betray them in the end."

Lukas didn't say anything. I guess it made sense to him.

"…Alright. Mason, do you have any idea where or when this is happening?" He asked.

"Four o'clock. Should we call the Free Council…?" I asked, assuming they had a home base for whoever is in charge.

Jessica shook her head. "Can you imagine what their reaction would be? We're making the war easier! We'll definitely earn more of their support."

She seemed pretty excited about earning their support…although I didn't get the point of doing so. I assumed we had their full support already since we joined.

"Jessica…" Jimmy began. "They're not going to elect us to Citizen Agent that quickly. But this will _definitely_ give us props. Maybe access to more lorehouses, maybe even more members."

This whole thing seemed like a win-win situation for the Virtus Draconis. I even told them what Medraut said they'd do if the Virtus Draconis did this successfully. That only seemed to lighten their moods even more.

"Alright, so if we do this right, we'll get a location of one of their sanctums." Jessica said to all of this. "We have two hours to prepare. I say we train Mason a little, and then we crash that deal. Agree?"

Everybody raised their hands except for me. Then I noticed that, since I was part of the team, I also got a vote. I raised my hand in favor of the plan, and then everybody dropped their hands.

"Alright, better get started now." Curtis said.

For the rest of those two hours, the whole Virtus Draconis trained me in combat and quick spellcasting. I sparred with Lukas quite a few times, losing some and winning some. Every time I won, I felt as if I'd made a huge achievement…and then I realized he was going easy on me. We had no trouble with training since the people that were wandering to the tree before had long left, and the people outside of the park weren't really paying attention. It took a while, but I felt that I could at least reflexively block and strike back. Slowly and surely, I was getting better at this.


End file.
